Dislocation
by Veery
Summary: set in OotP War is fast approaching in the wizarding world. As both sides scramble to gain power, something very different is pulled in.
1. Chapter 1

**Umm...Hi**

**A few context things:**

**This is set post Will of The Empress (so don't read it if you haven't read that and don't want spoilers). I am putting it here because the first four books will play very heavily into this. Also because there are currently no crossovers for Will of the Empress, and I wasn't sure that it would be noticed if I put it there (should I move it?)**

**In the Potterverse, it begins during the summer of book five (after Harry's arrival at Grimmauld Place, before the trial). I know that this is similar to "The Student Exchange Program" by Lyrannae, but trust me, it will be different. **

**This is my first fic, so please give feedback (criticism and observations of typos included)**

**The story summary is highly subject to change. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in. **

**On to the story...**

**Summersea, Emelan**

Doing her best not to wake the stable hands scattered about on cots around the room, Sandry led her mare out of the stable. She hoped that the note she had left would be noticed before they all panicked about losing the horse of the Duke's niece. It would have probably been best that she told someone that she was leaving, but she knew that doing so would mean leaving with an armed escort. It had taken one of her invisibility shrouds just to get this far.

Once she was outside, she mounted and made her way to the gate. Fortunately, the guard on duty was one that she knew, and she was able to convince him to open it. By the time the sun was beginning to rise, she was standing outside of Daja's house.

She had felt uncomfortable being outside while it was still dark, but the lantern's hanging by the road had been enough to fight off her panic. With what she had to discuss with her siblings, it had been more important to leave undetected. Now however, she had a moment of doubt over coming so early as it occurred to her that everyone inside was asleep. She didn't want to wake up the housekeeper, but she was locked out.

Sandry paused, considering her next move. Briar had gotten a lot better in the months following their return from Namorn, but he was still jumpy….

_WAKE UP! _She shouted mentally, and felt Tris and Daja jump up in their beds in response. Daja began swearing at her while Tris fumbled for her glasses.

_I need to talk to you. Get Briar. _

The seriousness in her tone made them both pause.

_I'm coming._ Daja told her, while Tris headed for Briar's room. A few minutes later they were gathered around the dining room table. Sandry looked around at her family. None of them had taken the time to get dressed: Tris's braids were still in their net and Briar was shirtless and nodding back off to sleep with his head on the table.

_So what's wrong_? Daja asked through their bond, sensing Sandry's need for silence. Briar perked up slightly.

_It's… about the children that have gone missing. _

Now she had Briar's attention.

It was a story that all four of them had been following with growing concern. Over the past few months, numerous children from the city had vanished. This in itself was not an entirely new phenomenon, but a Provost Guard that had been working several of the cases made the realization that a great deal of them had been discovered to be mages.

_Why did you need to wake us up at the crack of dawn to talk about this?_ Tris asked irritably, but Sandry knew that Tris was particularly anxious over the matter. One of the children was taken from Winding Circle temple and had been set to move in with Lark and Rosethorn a couple of days after she went missing. The mage girl Glaki, who Tris had picked up somewhere on her travels, was in the age range of the missing children. The temple had already been proven to be unsafe, and Tris was on the verge of having Glaki stay with them until whoever was responsible was caught.

_I wanted to talk about it in person, and this was the only time I could get away without being noticed. I want to do something, and I need your help._

_I'm all for whoever is doing it ending up in a nice comfy cell, but why us?_ Briar piped up. Then he put his head back on the table.

_Because the search has been on for two months, and they haven't_ _found_ _anything_._ Because Uncle already has too much to worry about even without this, and I'm worried that his heart is going to give out again. Because other people can't _watch_ the way that we can. Who knows just how many kids have been taken, and will be taken?_

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

…_I'm in. _Daja said finally

_Me too._

_Fine_.

Sandry smiled. _Everyone think of our circle. _

Ever since their thread had merged with their bodies, they no longer needed to be in physical contact with it – or even with each other – to fully access the added strength that it gave them. Regardless, they all joined hands as they sank into their power. They gathered as much as they could, and then flung themselves out.

Tris called on every breeze that she could reach to search Summersea. Briar called on the plants and Daja on metals to alert them to anything suspicious. Sandry spun a web over the city that went as far as the Mire.

Then they all slumped, exhausted, into their seats.

_Maybe it's time to wake up the Housekeeper. _Briar said wearily. _I'm starved. _

It was two days later that they found what they were looking for. The image was carried to Tris on the wind minutes after Sandry felt the catch in her web. A man struggled with what looked like a street boy. As they fought, the man's sleeve burst into flames, and the boy staggered and then tried to escape. He only made it a few feet before another man emerged from the shadows and knocked him unconscious with a swift blow to the back of the head. The boy slumped, the first man put out his arm, then the second threw the boy over his shoulder and all three took off into the night.

Sandry had been eating dinner at Daja's house, so all of them were able to race out together instantly with Chime flying above them. She kept her threads around them as they quickly saddled horses and took off. Suddenly, the presence of the men and the boy vanished. They went to the last spot that they had felt it and found themselves in the middle of a street full of inns, restaurants, and shops. They dismounted and stood, probing around them with their power as Daja urged Chime to hide in her bag to prevent drawing attention from the people on the street.

It was Tris who noticed it. Off to the side, an old, rundown building that was probably a restaurant once and now looked like a place that would attract squatters. When she tried to examine it, her power seemed to slide off, making it almost impossible to tell that it was there even when she tried to send her breezes straight at it. If she had not been so focused, they would have likely missed it all together.

_What _is _this? _Tris asked, stunned. _I've never felt magic like this before._

_What matters is, Can we break it? _Briar responded.

It took less power than the Namorese wall, but it took them longer to get through. It was at least an hour before Sandry was able to get a grip on a loose thread, and it took another hour for them to take it apart. Concentrating was made more difficult by people giving them strange looks, and at one point they had to stop to ward off a drunk, middle-aged man that tried to flirt with Sandry. Finally, they took down the barrier and cautiously went inside.

At first it seemed empty, but Briar discovered a trap door by sending a quick pulse through the floorboards and walls. He walked over and pried it open as quietly as he could. They all crowded around to stare at the twisting staircase underneath.

_It's dark, damp, ominous, and the steps are probably rotting. What are we waiting for? _Tris asked sarcastically.

They cast their power downward, and their eyes popped open in surprise. There was an enormous hollow area under them, with humans and…something else.

They entered the staircase one at a time. Sandry grabbed Daja's sleeve and held on tightly in the darkness, but she was able to keep herself under control. They could hear people moving around below them, and muffled sobbing.

Then a step creaked loudly under Tris's foot. All four of them froze. So did the people that they could hear.

Sandry quickly reached out with her power to find any adult-sized clothing. Finding five sets, she unwove them and had them bind their wearers. They rushed down the steps with Briar in the lead. At the bottom, he froze.

Through his eyes, his sisters were able to get a good look at the scene. There were five cages around the room, each packed with about ten children. The children were in varying conditions. The men Sandry had bound were lying on the ground around a table. The room itself must have spread underneath several of the surrounding buildings, and in the center of the room was a pattern of the kind of runes that Niko had always warned them to stay away from. Tris traced the flow of the magic into them from.

_The cages. They're draining power from the kids. _

Upon seeing them, many of the children had started screaming. Others were begging to go home, and a few were just staring at them with chillingly vacant eyes. Two were lying on the ground and didn't seem to be moving. Daja rusted through the bars and they began to scramble out, many sprinting for the steps.

Briar went over to the boys that wasn't moving and briefly examined them. One was the boy that they had just been taken. He was just unconscious. Then he turned to the second boy. After a moment, he grimly shook his head.

Sandry's hands went up to her mouth

Tris was crouched down to look at the array, trying to determine the purpose. _The power is being stored here, but I'm not sure what it is doing. _She looked over at the bound, struggling men. _Should we see if we can get some answers from–_

It was then that she felt it. There was a hard yank from somewhere inside her, and the runes began sucking in her magic. She tried to break out amid her siblings' cries of alarm, but she couldn't even move.

Her vision was starting to go black. She knew that the spell would not stop until she was dead.

The others came to the realization at the same time that Tris did. they shoved all of the power that they could into her, trying desperately to fill the spell's hunger and keep her alive. Their vision was darkening as well, and all they knew was the sense of being compressed and swept away while Chime screeched somewhere above them...

**# 12, Grimmauld Place**

Harry sneezed.

He, Hermione, Sirius, and about half of the house's Weasley population were attempting to clean out what used to be a sitting room, and the dust was getting to him. Ron and Hermione were trying to pull down a set of curtains that proudly displayed the Slytherin crest, Sirius and the twins were working on the contents of the table's drawers, and Harry was on Doxy-duty.

Mrs. Weasely came into the room, followed by Ginny and carrying a tray with sandwiches.

"Making much progress?" she inquired as she set down the tray.

"A bit" Ron grunted, still tugging at the curtain "But this thing must be spelled..."

Fred looked up. "Allow us, baby brother." The twins had been taking every opportunity that they could to use magic since they had come of age, and they seized onto that one. They waved their wands and brought one of the curtains crashing down on Hermione's head. They turned towards the other curtain.

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" their mother bellowed as they prepared to cast. "YOU CAN'T JUST–"

Whatever Mrs. Weasely was about to say next was lost, because just as the spells shot from the ends of her sons' wands there was a blinding light and a deafening crack.

By the time that they had regained their senses, the rest of the order that was there had come running with their wands drawn, including Lupin, Tonks, the rest of the Weasely's, and even Snape. Ready for a battle, they instead found themselves staring at what had materialized in the room.

Lying on the floor were four children that Harry guessed to be about the ages of Hogwarts first or second years. All of them were dressed in clothing that looked several sizes too big for them. One of the three girls had very short hair that was red enough for her to pass as a Weasely. Another girl, with very dark skin, had what looked like a brass, fingerless glove encasing her palm. They were unconscious.

There were a couple minutes of dead silence. Then...

"WHAT HAVE YOU TWO DONE?" screamed Mrs. Weasely at Fred and George.

_TBC_

**That's right, I de-aged them (temporarily, don't worry). **

**What happened? Will they have their memories? How will the order react? Why am I asking questions like this?**

**Next chapter (if anyone is interested in the story): some of the impact in both worlds, and a look into what happened. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, I'm back**

**First off, thank you to those that reviewed and/or put it on their favourite and alert lists. This is my first fic, so it was great to get that kind of response **

**Another Context thing: Times are different in the two different places. In Emelan, it was late evening/early night when the Circle crossed over. They arrived in England in the early afternoon. **

**This chapter is a little shorter than the last one, but chapter three will be longer**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

**# 12, Grimmauld Place**

Amid the twin's stuttering denials, everyone else unfroze. Lupin cautiously made his way over to the still forms on the carpet.

"I doubt that they are responsible, Molly", he told her, trying his best to use a soothing voice. "I don't think that it is possible to conjure up children, intentionally or not."

He reached out to turn over the one nearest to him – a girl with dark blond hair – to get a better look, but he was stopped by what sounded suspiciously like a growl from Mad-Eye.

"Wait right there, Lupin," Moody commanded. "This is a serious security breach. We have no idea where they came from or how they got in here. Check them for spells"

Ginny appraised them carefully, then offered her assessment. "I didn't know that Death Eaters come in this size."

"Exactly!" Moody barked. "Because they're kids, they don't seem like threats. The Death Eaters probably figured that they could just push them in here and we would welcome them with open arms–"

"Moody does make a good point." Sturgis Podmore interrupted, frowning. "How _did _they get in here?"

Everyone was quiet again. The silence was broken this time by Tonks scrambling out of the room with the declaration that she would "Get Dumbledore on the floo."

Then the boy, who had dark skin (though not nearly as dark as the girl with the bronze hand) and short black hair, moaned in his sleep and fidgeted. Everyone held their breaths, but he just muttered something that sounded like "no more weeding rose thorn" and then rolled over and went back to sleep.

While anticlimactic, the boy's movement appeared to trigger something in Mrs. Weasely. Seeming to remember that their uninvited guests were in fact children, she got a gleam in her eyes that Harry usually associated with being almost force-fed second helpings at the Burrow because he was apparently to thin.

"Well," she said. "There is no need to leave them on the floor at least."

Carefully, Mrs. Weasely levitated the red head and asked if there was a room that she could be put in. There was an outburst from Moody, but eventually grudgingly agreed that it would be best to move them to a room where what they saw was limited. Sirius took the blond, Lupin the dark-skinned girl, and Mr. Weasely levitated the boy.

There was a series of loud thudding noises. Everyone turned back to look at the boy.

Several knives were lying on the floor under him, apparently having fallen out of his oversized clothes as he was lifted. As they watched, another one slowly slipped out of his sleeve and hit the floor, leaving a divot on the wood.

"I'm sure that there is a perfectly good explanation for that…" Mrs. Weasley said weakly.

"Just make sure that they're not confunded." Moody grumbled.

Something caught Harry's eye as the others began to go off to a bedroom: a small splash of colour on dull floor where the children had appeared. He bent down to take a look. It was a string connected so that it had no ends. There were four large lumps in it, each with fibres of a different colour. He picked it up…

Harry gasped. There was a rush of something up his arm that was somehow both numbing and painful at the same time. The force pulsed through his body, and he felt like he was powerful and he felt like he was drowning…

"Harry!" he heard Hermione yell. And then she was there, hitting his hand to make him drop the string. He did, and suddenly he was himself again, crouched on the floor and shivering.

The others crowed around, asking if he was okay. Moody pointed his wand at the string.

"Don't!" Harry yelled. "It's theirs!"

"If it belongs to them, and it's dangerous, then that's all the more reason to get rid of it"

"It's alright" Harry said. "It was just because I touched it. It's theirs, and no one else is supposed to have it."

Even as he said this, Harry wondered where he was getting it from. He just knew. After feeling the power in the string, he couldn't get rid of the sense that something terrible would happen to the kids if it were destroyed.

The others were staring at him as if they wondered if the string had fried his brain. Everyone but Snape, who left the room muttering "Finally, a Potter who understands what 'don't touch that' means."

...

About half-an-hour later, their strange visitors were changed into Ginny and Harry's pyjamas – which also didn't fit them – and tucked into beds brought into a room on the third floor. Everyone but Mrs. Weasely was gathered around the dining room table.

She came into the room carrying a box, which she set down on the table. Harry leaned forward to take a look. Inside was what looked like all of the boy's knives, the thread (probably levitated in), four medallions with small pictures engraved onto them, a leather pouch on a string with a lump inside it, and a few other objects.

"This is all that I could find on them," said Mrs. Weasely. "Is Dumbledore here yet?"

Bill shook his head. "Tonks contacted us. She's having trouble finding him."

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "I spell-locked the door, so that will at least keep them in there until he gets here"

...

It was evening by the time that Dumbledore was located. From the bottom of the stairs, Harry could dimly hear him saying things like "perimeter spells are undamaged" and "contact me again when they wake up" while he examined the children. Harry waited for him to come down, but Mrs. Weasely came alone

"Where's Dumbledore?" he asked her.

"He went out the back door," she told him. "He seemed to be in a bit of a rush."

Hearing Dumbledore's voice had made Harry remember about his upcoming trial, and he had wanted to talk to him about it. He was disappointed at having missed him.

Mad-Eye came down the stairs. "I've got first watch," he told Mrs. Weasely. Then his magical eye rolled back up into his head, presumably staring at the bedroom.

**Winding Circle Temple**

Niklaren Goldeye made it back to Discipline cottage at dawn. He was physically exhausted, but his mind was on high alert. Inside, Lark, Rosethorn, Frostpine, and Moonstream were already sitting around the table waiting for him.

Lark stood as he came in. "Any news?"

Niko slumped into a chair. "Not much. I questioned the kidnappers myself, and I didn't learn anything."

"_Nothing?_" Moonstream whispered.

"They didn't know what the runes were supposed to do, who they were working for, or even why they were taking the children. They barely even seemed to remember the whole thing"

The children that had gotten out of the building had gotten the attention of a member of the Provost Guard. He went to his post to call for backup, and then went to investigate. One of the Guards that went was Zahara Acalon, whose son Pasco had been Sandry's first student. She had kept in touch with Sandry and had met her siblings, so she was able to recognize the trader staff that was lying on the floor of the hidden room and the screeching glass creature that was trying to guard it.

Word had been sent to the temple immediately.

Daja's staff was resting on the table and Chime was curled up next to Little Bear in the other room. A few of the children had been returned to their families, but most were in the temple infirmary.

"Did you learn anything from the room?" Frostpine asked.

Niko sighed. "It was definitely them. It was Sandrilene's magic that was used to bind the kidnappers, and I could feel Trisana, Daja, and Briar's magical signatures. The children that I talked to described them. As for the runes..." He paused. "They were storing power. I do not know what the purpose was, but when the children were released it made them unstable. I believe that the magic latched on to our students to compensate for what it was losing, and they had enough to balance and activate it."

"And then?"

The question hung in the air.

"Whatever the spell was supposed to do, it did with them. I doubt that someone would go through that much trouble to kill someone when they would have already had to get them in their building, so it is highly likely that they are alive. However, I have no idea of what the effects of going through that kind of magical working while being drained of power would be on them. The children said..." he trailed off.

"Said what?" snapped Rosethorn, tension colouring her voice.

"The children claimed...that they started to shrink, and then disappeared."

Dead silence

"What is that supposed to mean?" cried Rosethorn, "That I might be looking for an ant-sized version of Briar?"

"I don't know," Niko answered. "But until I know more there is not much that we can do."

It was quiet for another minute, then Lark went to get her shoes. "I can't just sit here and wait," she informed the others. "I may not be able to do anything for our kids, but I'm going to see if I can help the ones at the infirmary."

Rosethorn and Moonstream went with her. Frostpine left after a minute too, declaring that he needed to go hit something with a hammer. Niko stayed at the table.

A noise made him look up. The two figures that had been standing and listening in the hallway quickly ducked into the room that once belonged to Briar, but even in that brief glimpse Niko had been able to identify Glaki and the stone mage Evumeimei.

Niko put his head down on the table and closed his eyes.

**Summersea, in the City**

At the building where the children had been taken, a hooded figure slipped undetected past the Guards that the Duke had placed there. It made it inside and then went down the hidden staircase. Once it reached the runes, the hood was pushed back to reveal a young man with dark hair. He touched the runes, which began to glow.

The man's brown eyes widened in surprise at what the runes told him, and then a smile crept across his face. He hurried off, pleased with the news that he had to report.

_TBC_

**...**

**Next chapter: completely Potterverse. The Circle wakes up, and some other stuff happens... **


	3. Chapter 3

**IMPORTANT NOTICE!**

**I have decided to move this to the Will of the Empress category. I will leave it here until my next update. **

**Guardian Writer: since you have asked me a couple of times, I decided to answer your question. They won't wake up with all of their memories, but don't worry. I have a compromise planned...**

**Thanks to those that reviewed **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

**# 12 Grimmauld Place**

When Briar opened his eyes, something seemed very wrong.

For a minute or two, he couldn't think of what it was. Then he realized that the ceiling was darker than it should be, that the morning light from the window was coming in from the wrong place, and that his mattress didn't feel like it was on the floor as it usually was. There was the sound of breathing around him. He looked around and saw the girls lying asleep in other beds.

He tried to sit up only to be hit by a wave of vertigo so strong that he almost passed out again. Briar groaned. He felt almost as bad as he had after the earthquake. What had he been doing?

Briar reached for his magic. He barely had anything left, and from what he could tell, the girls did too. He couldn't even feel Lark and Rosethorn…

He froze. They weren't in Winding Circle, their teachers were nowhere nearby, they were drained of magic and Briar could not think of any good explanation.

He forced himself to get up, made it to the closest bed – Sandry's – and started trying to shake her awake. She moaned and drowsily batted his hand away.

"Get up, Duchess," he hissed. "We got a problem…"

...

About twenty minutes later, Harry was woken up by the sounds of running feet and yells above him. He and Ron grabbed their wands and sprinted down the hallway and up the stairs.

On the third floor they found most of the order, the twins, Hermione and Ginny gathered around the room that the children had been put in. A few others were coming up the steps behind them. The door to the room was shut. He and Ron went over to the girls.

"What's happening?" he asked Hermione.

"Moody saw them waking up, so he, Lupin, and Professor Snape came up–"

"Snape spent the night?"

"No, he came early. Anyway, they came up to talk to them, but they panicked. One of them tried to throw a book at Professor Snape–"

"Seriously?" Ron interrupted.

"Yes. Let me finish. Now they've locked the door and they're not coming out."

"Can't we just open it with magic?" Harry suggested.

"Won't work," answered Sirius, who had come over while they were talking. "The locks on this floor are spelled not to open magically"

They all stared at him. Finally, Hermione asked "Why did you put them in a room that they could lock us out of?"

"I forgot."

"Oh."

"They're gonna try going out the window," said Moody, who was keeping his magical eye fixed on the occupants of the room. Bill ran down the stairs.

After a couple of anxious minutes, Moody gave an update. "Weasely's outside. They can see him, and it looks like they changed their minds about the window."

"Can't we just blast a hole in the wall?"

That was Snape, who was looking rather bitter about the book incident. Harry hoped for their sakes that the kids weren't starting at Hogwarts that year.

"Really, Severus. Resorting to such drastic measures would only make the situation worse"

Harry froze upon hearing the familiar voice, and then turned to look at Dumbledore. Tonks, who had apparently had better luck finding him this time, was standing next to him along with McGonagall.

Dumbledore slowly approached the door. "Has anyone tried calming them down?"

"Good luck with that," muttered Snape. "Little savages–"

Dumbledore knocked on the door. "Hello in there," he called. "We mean you no harm if you mean us none. We merely wish to speak with you"

There was silence for a minute, and then a girl's voice yelled, "Who are you people? What are we doing here?"

Moody and Dumbledore glanced at each other significantly. "We do not know that ourselves, but we are trying to determine what it was that brought you here. We will do our best to help you, but we need to talk first."

Mad-Eye watched intently. "They're all looking at each other, but I don't see their mouths moving...They're coming out."

The door creaked open slightly, and a bright blue eye cautiously peeked out from behind it. It was pushed open more, and soon all four of them were standing in the hallway, slightly huddled together and still wearing their oversized pyjamas.

...

Tris silently glared at the very oddly-dressed people (speaking of which, what in Shurri's name was _she _wearing?) that were gathered in the hallway staring at them. Many of them were red-haired like the man that had gone into the yard while they were debating the window as an escape route. She could see a few young people, a black-haired man that looked thin and pale, another man – one of the first to come to the room – with brown hair that looked exhausted, a young woman with bright pink hair that couldn't possibly be natural, an older, stern-looking woman, and several others.

The three that stood out the most were the oily man that Briar had tried to knock out with the book (but had only had enough strength to graze his arm instead of hitting his head), another man with scars, a wooden leg, and a blue eye that darted around independently of the other one, and an impossibly old-looking man with a long silver beard.

_Are you sure about this, Daja?_ she asked, trying to keep herself from edging back to the room under the strange people's scrutiny.

Daja was quiet for a few seconds, and then squared her shoulders. _Yes. We don't know where we are, and we're in no shape to fight them. For now, we need to see what they want and wait for our power to come back._

Briar nodded as slightly as he could. _Don't tell them anything that we don't have to._

...

"Well then," Dumbledore said, breaking the staring contest. "Shall we move somewhere more comfortable? I do believe that there is a sitting room down the hall."

The four of them glanced at each other as if they were having a silent debate. They apparently came to a decision, and the girl with dark-blond hair nodded. Dumbledore led the way.

Harry looked ahead at them while they walked and noticed that the kids were rather unsteady, bracing themselves slightly against the wall. He guessed that it was from being asleep for so long. Lupin reached out to help the blond girl, but the boy and the redhead jerked her out of his reach.

They made it to the sitting room, where the kids all but collapsed onto a sofa. Dumbledore sat on another sofa that was across a small table from them. A few others – Harry included – sat on chairs, but the majority of the Order stayed on their feet.

Harry took his first good look at them. The blue eye that had looked around the door belonged to the blond. She looked small for what he guessed her age to be and had a little nose, but she still looked like she would be pretty when she was older. On one side of her sat the boy. While he was unconscious, Harry had thought he was Middle Eastern, but now he could see his eyes. They were a startling gray-green where Harry had expected dark brown, and some of his facial features looked European. His black hair was cut very short. On the other side of the blond was the redhead girl. Her hair was only a few inches long and curled. She was plump, had a long nose, and her eyes were the colour of thunderclouds. She had to keep pushing up her glasses, which were too big for her face. The last girl was sitting next to her. She was stocky with dark skin and wiry black hair, and she was still wearing her bronze partial glove. Overall, they looked absolutely nothing alike.

"Now that we are all settled in," said Dumbledore, "the proper thing to do is to introduce ourselves. I am Albus Dumbledore"

Moody leaned forward intently. Harry realized that he was waiting for them to react to the name, but they just stared back at him. After a while, the blond girl cautiously said. "My name is Sandry."

"Sandry?" Dumbledore repeated.

They all looked at each other again. "Sandrilene fa Toren"

They watched Dumbledore intently, and then Harry realized that they were waiting for a reaction too.

"And your friends?"

"Daja Kisubo," said the dark-skinned girl.

"Briar Moss," said the boy.

"Tris Chandler"

"Tris?" Dumbledore said. "Is that short for something?"

She glared. "Just Tris."

The other three glanced over at her. Harry thought that, despite the tension, they looked a bit amused. Dumbledore decided to drop it.

"Do you remember anything about how you came to be here?" he inquired.

"No," the boy – Briar – answered. "We just...woke up here."

Dumbledore changed his approach. "You can speak English, but I can't say that I recognize your accent. Where are you from?"

They looked blank for a moment. "We're speaking Imperial," said Daja, at the same time that Briar responded "You're the ones that are talking weird."

In the pause that followed, everyone took in what had just been said. The tension went up another notch.

"Where do you live?" asked Dumbledore, trying again. "Your parents must be worried"

"We don't have parents. And we live in Summersea"

There were a couple of issues in Briar's answer, and Dumbledore took what seemed like the simplest first. "Where is Summersea"

"In Emelan"

"What country is that in?"

"Emelan _is_ the country."

Dumbledore looked taken aback. "And where is it located?"

"At the edge of the Pebbled Sea," said Daja.

"Must be confounded," muttered Moody. They looked at him warily.

McGonagall sighed. "They don't seem to be wizard children at least," she told the others, "and I don't recall seeing their names on the Hogwarts lists"

The four of them looked at each other, and then Daja cautiously repeated, "Wizard? Hogwarts?"

"They're muggles," announced Moody. "We'll have to wipe their memories."

Sandry and Tris were instantly (although a bit wobbly) on their feet.

"What do you mean, 'Wipe their memories'?" demanded Tris, the intensity of her glare almost doubling.

"And what's a 'muggle'?" added Sandry.

"Someone that's not a wizard," Ron jumped in helpfully, and then received a glare from Moody

"What's 'wizard'?"

Harry realized what was wrong with that response instantly. Even growing up in a family like the Dursley's, Harry had at least heard of muggle legends of wizards. Muggle or not, Sandry should not have said 'wizard' like a word from a foreign language. He looked over at Hermione, who looked like she was having the same revelation.

The others, however, did not pick up on this. Most of them came from wizard families and weren't sure how far muggle knowledge went. Those that didn't simply didn't think of it. It was Mr. Weasely who, figuring that they would have their memories erased anyway and taking pity on them, was the one to explain that wizards were people who could use magic, and muggles were people that couldn't.

"We're not Muggles, then!" Sandry shouted triumphantly

The eyes of the other three darted to her in alarm, but she didn't seem to notice.

Snape moved closer and sneered at her. "If you can't use magic, then you're a muggle," he repeated patronizingly.

At his tone, something in Sandry seemed to change. She drew herself up, eyes blazing. The expression on her face changed to one of almost haughtiness, and the air around her was almost rippling with energy. In that moment, wearing oversized clothing and only coming up to Snape's chest, she looked _powerful_.

Dumbledore and Moody tensed. Snape took an involuntary step backwards. Her friends tried in vain to tug her back onto the couch. Everyone else froze.

"We may not be _wizards,_ but we have our own magic!"

She threw her arms open.

At first, Harry thought that nothing had happened. Then he saw Daja and Briar jump of the sofa, and everyone on their side did the same. Harry quickly realized why. The thread from his chair cushion was trying to weave itself into his clothes, trapping him in the seat. Curtains, wall hangings, and even some of the rug came undone, and the threads began to circle around her feet. Some of them were moving up her arms. She took a deep breath, and...

Collapsed onto the floor.

In the stunned silence, Briar knelt to look at her. "Huh," he said. "I figured Tris would be the one to lose it"

She turned her glare on him.

_TBC_

**...**

**That might seem like an overreaction from Sandry, but I figure that it's plausible for her if someone insults her pride while she is already stressed. **

**In this chapter, the Circle was biding their time since there isn't much they can do without collapsing like Sandry. **

**Next chapter: Some action starts **


	4. Chapter 4

**I know that I said I would be moving the story at this chapter, but a few people have added the story to their favourite or alert lists since then, and I'm not sure that everyone got it. **

**Just to make sure: ****I'M MOVING THE STORY TO THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS CROSSOVER SECTION. THIS ONE WILL BE DELETED AT THE NEXT UPDATE!**

**Thanks for favouriting or adding the story to your alerts though. It makes me happy to see that people are interested in my fic. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

Moody had his wand out in seconds. "What _are_ you," he growled.

Tris, Daja, and Briar looked back at him blankly and continued to move Sandry onto the couch. "Why are you pointing a stick at us?" Daja asked.

"We've never heard of _wizards_ before," said Tris. "We're _mages_"

The word meant nothing to Harry, but Dumbledore went still.

"Is that so?" he said under his breath. Then he asked them, "Can you all do that?"

"We all have powers," said Daja, who seemed the most willing to talk. Harry had gotten used to their accents enough to realize that hers was different from the others'. "But we don't have the same powers."

They were tensing again, looking reluctant to say more about what exactly their abilities were, and Dumbledore dropped it. He nodded at Mrs. Weasely, and she left the room.

"Now then," he said. "I believe we have some things that belong to you"

Mrs. Weasely returned with the box and set it on the table. Tris, Daja, and Briar crowded around. Looking in, Harry saw that the knives had been removed.

Briar took the pouch and the thread circle. Harry watched carefully, but the boy didn't seem to be feeling the same effects from it that he had. If anything, he became steadier after he touched it. Briar carried them back to Sandry, who was still sleeping on the couch. He put the pouch on her lap and draped the thread around her neck. Sandry's eyes fluttered open.

Her eyes struggled to focus. "Briar," she muttered sleepily, her voice hoarse. "Why are you–"

Then she seemed to remember where she was. Her eyes opened fully, and she struggled to get up. Daja pushed her back down.

"Don't even try, _saati,_" she told her. "You overdid it."

Sandry's hands went up to her neck. She sighed with relief when her hands made contact with the thread. She looked at the pouch in her lap and managed to pick it up and get it open. As she did, her face was illuminated by the light streaming from it. She looked even more relieved, but then noticed the curious stared of the others in the room and closed it as quickly as she could.

"As I was just telling your friends," Dumbledore said after a moment, "the contents of this box were found with you when you arrived."

Briar reached back into the box and pulled out what looked like a coin purse. "I don't recognize this," he said. Then he opened it and looked at the copper, silver, and a few gold coins inside. "I'll take it though."

"May I see that for a moment?" asked Dumbledore, and the boy reluctantly handed it over. Dumbledore took out one of the silver coins that Harry had initially thought to be sickles. Taking a closer look, Harry saw that the coin had a completely different pattern and was slightly smaller. It wasn't wizard money, and it didn't look like any muggle money that he could recognize either.

"What do you call this type of coin?" Dumbledore inquired.

Daja moved in for a closer look. "It's a silver astrel"

"Does everyone use this currency where you come from?"

Daja shrugged. "We do in Emelan. Other countries use different money, but a few of them accept ours."

Everyone absorbed this for another moment, and then Sandry warily asked "Just how far away from home _are_ we?"

"We are wondering that ourselves," Dumbledore replied softly. He raised his voice. "Do you recognize these medallions?"

"Medallions?" repeated Tris, and then all four of them froze. Daja grabbed the box and they looked inside.

"Those aren't ours," said Sandry, but her voice shook slightly. Daja picked one up and stared at the symbols on it.

"That's Niko's–," she started, but was interrupted by Tris saying "Those can't be ours." Tris snatched the medallion from her and dropped it back into the box.

Whether they belonged to them or not, the medallions obviously meant something to the kids. They all looked a bit shaken.

"Now then," said Dumbledore. "You still seem to be rather tired. Would you like to return to your room?"

They looked at each other again. Daja looked back at Dumbledore and said "It's not an equal exchange"

"We answered your questions," Tris clarified. "Now we want answers"

"Certainly," Dumbledore answered lightly. "What would you like to know?"

The next several minutes were spent going over the basics of the wizarding world and told them what he knew of their arrival. All that Dumbledore told them about the Order was that it were created to fight a group that was a serious threat to their world. When he was done, Sandry asked to see some wizard magic.

"May I see your glasses?" he asked Tris.

She stiffened and clutched at the oversized frames. "I _need _them!"

"I will not damage them," he reassured her. "I am merely going to adjust them. They are too large for you, are they not?"

She deliberated for a moment, and then reluctantly handed them over. Dumbledore drew his wand and used a shrinking charm on them. Tris tried to squint at him while the other three stared. He handed them back, and she put them on.

"Did you find anything else with us?" inquired Daja.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "I believe that you had about ten knives."

The three girls slowly turned to look at Briar.

"I thought you only had two," Sandry muttered to him.

"Did you find a staff?" Daja asked.

She got a few strange looks for that one, which weren't helped by Briar asking a moment later if they had found a "really little tree."

They decided to go back to their room then. Tris and Briar gathered up their belongings, and Daja went over to Sandry. She reached out to touch the thread around Sandry's neck, and then turned around, crouched down, and grabbed her arms. She pulled the smaller girl onto her back despite her weak protests and carried her out of the room.

Dumbledore motioned for the rest of them to stay where they were. They waited for a few minutes until Mad-Eye said. "They're back in their room. They've got the door closed, and they're getting the blond in bed."

"Observe them for now," Dumbledore told the others. "They have power, but they do not seem to be working for the Death Eaters. Be cautious dealing with them. I doubt they will initiate anything, but I am not certain of what they will do if they feel threatened."

"They said that they were mages," said McGonagall. "Does that mean anything to you?"

Dumbledore frowned. "I recognize the term, but I know very little about it. I will see what I can learn for now."

Then he left, rushing out once again before Harry could speak to him.

Mrs. Weasely went over to the window. "It's drafty in here," she said as she shut it.

…

_They shut the window_, Tris told the others, releasing the breeze that she had been tugging through their own. _I can't hear any more._

_It sounded like they were done anyway, _said Daja. _I don't think we're in danger here unless we start something. _

…

Over the next few days Daja, Tris, and Briar began to explore the house. Within a couple of hours they were hoping that it wasn't an accurate representation of all wizards. Pictures on the walls not only talked to them, but sneered at them. A pair of scissors tried to attack Briar, and Daja had to melt them to make them stop. On their second day, members of the order found them staring at a group of shrunken, deformed heads mounted on the wall. Tris was picking up murmurings on the house's drafts about "mistress" and "blood traitors" and the overall filthiness of the house made her cringe. Fortunately, most of the other inhabitants seemed to spend most of their time cleaning it.

On their fourth day, they heard a chant of "He got off" coming from downstairs. Briar and Tris looked from the stairwell to see what was happening and saw everyone gathered around the black-haired boy with glasses. At the redhead woman's bellow for silence, they ducked back out of sight.

The three of them had fully recovered their strength with the help of their thread, but Sandry was still very weak. She could be up for brief periods, but would have to lie down again afterwards. They discussed giving her some of their strength, but Sandry wouldn't hear of it.

_You've all barely got your strength back_, she told them, _and they don't know exactly what we can do yet. If they see me weak for awhile from using magic, they'll probably underestimate us. Besides_, she added, smiling ruefully, _it's my own fault I'm like this_.

The other three stared at her. _That's new_, said Tris. _Usually you hate it when people think you're weak._

_I've had a while to think about it, _she explained, glancing down at the bed she had been largely confined to.

They were still having most of their conversations through their bond. The people they were with seemed to be trustworthy, but they didn't want to take the risk of being overheard when talking about their magic. The 'Order' was watching them closely.

They were now wearing the odd clothing that the wizards called robes, but they were hand-me-downs from the children of the redheaded family. As a result, they were worn and didn't fit properly. Sandry was itching to fix them, but they decided that she shouldn't use any more magic unless she had to. They had been promised new robes anyway.

On their fifth day there, they were sitting together in the room that they still shared (they bad been offered separate ones, but felt safer staying together) when they were interrupted by a knock on the door. Briar opened it to find the tired-looking man and the man with dark skin.

_Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt,_ Sandry reminded him. She then turned to their visitors. "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," Remus reassured her with a smile. "We just have something we would like to discuss with you"

"What is it?" Tris asked.

"Would you like to get out of the house for a bit?"

"Yes!"

_What? _said Briar defensively when his outburst resulted in everyone in the room staring at him. _There aren't any plants in here. _

"Well," Remus continued, "we were planning on going to a place called Diagon Alley, and we thought you might like seeing more of the wizarding world"

The four of them quickly discussed it, and then Briar said "Me and Tris want to go. Daja's gonna stay here with Sandry."

…

Tris fell over when they finally hit solid ground, still clutching the boot that had somehow gotten them there. She looked around. They were in the back of what looked like a tavern. Most of the patrons were wearing robes, so Tris guessed that it was meant for wizards. Kingsley went to talk to the man behind the bar while Remus helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I know that portkeys are disorienting..."

She pulled away from him, with a muttered "I'm fine."

Kingsley came back, and the four of them walked over to a brick wall deeper into the tavern. Tris and Briar looked at it doubtfully, but Remus took out his stick – wand – and tapped it. Instantly, the bricks began to move, stopping once they had formed a doorway.

Tris tried to keep herself from gawking.

Beyond the doorway was something even more amazing. It was a whole street, with crowds of people. There were shops on both sides of the street. As they walked, Tris could see a store with robes, one with brooms (although exactly why cleaning supplies were getting so much attention was beyond her), one with books, and countless other things that she could not identify. Briar stopped behind her, and she looked back to see him standing with dreamy eyes in front of a building with numerous potted plants inside. The people inside the store were looking around in alarm as the plants started to move in response to his presence, and Tris hurried him along before their escort noticed.

"Excuse me for a moment," Remus said suddenly. "I need to get something here." Kingsley stayed with them on the street while Remus entered a store with _Flourish and Blotts _written over the doorway.

As they waited, Tris looked into the store next to them. It was a toy shop, and she stared in amazement at the toys that set off a shower of sparks or flew or changed into something else. But the thing that caught her eye the most didn't seem to do any of that. It was lined up in a row: a plush dog decked with ivory curls.

She smiled. It looked just like a miniature version of Little Bear.

She thought about him then. She hoped someone was feeding him and Shriek while they were gone.

A young girl inside the shop walked up to the dog and picked him up. She examined it for a minute, and then moved on to something else. Tris gritted her teeth. The girl was the type that had always made her feel resentful: silky blond curls, doe eyes, and with a bearing that told Tris that she was spoilt rotten by her parents. Seeing a girl like that so casually dismissing _her_ dog…

Something that Tris couldn't really explain came over her then. She pictured the girl, but her mind her hair changed to black curls instead of blond, and her eyes went from blue to deep brown. She thought about the new girl that was in her head. That girl would love the dog. Tris wondered if she should buy it. It was probably inexpensive enough to make very little impact in her savings. It would be worth it even if it did cost a lot. Glaki still missed living with Tris, and she would probably like to get a present from her the next time she went to Lark and Rosethorn's house…

_Umm, Tris? _That was Briar, picking up on her thoughts and interrupting them. _You don't know anyone like that_. He came over to the store window and looked at the dog for himself. _You're right, it _does _look like Bear._

Remus came back then, carrying a bag with a picture of a quill on it. "I have what I needed," he told them. He saw what they were looking at. "Do you want it?" he asked. "It doesn't look expensive."

His voice jolted Tris out of the last of her stupor, and she snapped "I'm too old for toys like that". She left ahead of them. Briar was right; the girl wasn't real. It made no sense that she was shaking, or that she felt a strong sense of loss from the lingering image of her face lighting up at the sight of Tris.

**Grimmauld Place**

It had been about half an hour since Lupin and Shacklebolt had left with Tris and Briar, and Moody was still muttering to himself about it, apparently convinced that the two of them were about to run back to whoever had sent them.

"Really, Alastor," Mrs. Weasely told him. "I doubt they would run and leave their friends behind."

Harry agreed with her. It was like the four of them were joined at the hip; he had never seen one alone. The only exception would have been Sandry, but he hadn't seen her at all since she had been carried out of the sitting room days ago. The others had been taking all of their meals upstairs to eat with her. Regardless, Moody remained on edge.

When the scream rang out from upstairs, even he jumped.

He, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasely and Sirius ran upstairs. Near the top, they met the girls trying to go down. Sirius grabbed them both

"What happened?" he asked urgently. "Are you alright?"

They struggled against him. "It's not us!" Sandry cried. "We have to go."

"If it's not you, then what is it."

"Tris and Briar," Daja gasped out. "Something went wrong..."

**Diagon Alley, Two Minutes Earlier**

They had gone into a couple of other stores by the time Kingsley turned to them and brought up getting them better robes.

_Sandry will like that_, Briar said. _But she'll still be going over–_

Whatever he had been about to say was cut off by the bolt of red light that hit him between his shoulder blades. He went down instantly.

Tris ran over to him as people on the street started yelling. Briar was still breathing, but he was stiller than Tris had ever seen him. She stood back up and saw Remus lying on the ground not far away. He wasn't moving either.

Tris drew her power and looked for someone to fight. She was dimly aware that she had started sparking. Kingsley was shooting coloured beams of light from his wand at someone wearing a hooded cloak. Tris prepared herself to blast his opponent...

She never got a chance. In the next moment another red bolt from an unseen source hit her square in the chest, and everything went black just as Daja and Sandry began clamouring in her head.

_TBC_

**...**

**I wanted to answer some reviews:**

**Guardian Writer: I didn't mean to make you feel bad for asking! I just didn't want you to get disappointed about them losing their memories when you read the chapter**

**About me giving stuff away...well, you might have gotten an idea of what I'm going to do with their memories in this chapter anyway **

**Avatar of Wurms: I figured that there was no way Briar would go into a dangerous situation without being armed to the teeth, so the knives were coming with them, and he couldn't have possibly kept them while he was unconscious and not have the people looking after him notice. **

**As for Evvy and Chime: well, if Chime came with them when they only had their memories as kids, they would have just been like what-is-this-glass-thing-and-why-is-it-following-us. Evvy already had a brief appearance in chapter 2, but don't worry, I'm bringing her back in later.**

**Tombadgerlock: Umm...thanks **

**Thanks also to benthefirst, stormrider7, and Scurryfunger for your feedback.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I moved it. I hope everyone noticed my warnings.**

**Longest chapter yet**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

"Alastor, I doubt they're making this up," said Mrs. Weasley.

It had been about ten minutes since they heard Sandry scream, and they were still talking about what to do.

At first, they had been occupied with keeping them from leaving the house (Ginny and the twins had joined them here), but once they had gotten the girls calmed down a bit they were able to get a jumbled explanation out of them. Daja and Sandry reluctantly told them that Briar and Tris were attacked and unconscious. The only detail that they had gotten was that they had been hit with red light.

"Sounds like a stunner to me," said Sirius.

"Exactly!" growled Moody. "They haven't left the house, so how would they know if there was an attack. That means that they had to have seen a stunning spell before they got here to have put it in their story. They told us they didn't know anything about wizards! You said it yourself, Molly. The other two won't run with them still here, but if we let them out–"

Hermione had been sitting with the girls in another room during their debate. At this point Sandry had apparently gotten impatient, and she stormed back into the hallway, followed by Daja and Hermione.

"Why is this taking so long?" She snapped. The energy that Harry had felt around her before was returning, and he backed up slightly. "We have to help them!"

"We have no proof that–"

He was cut off by the crack of someone apparating and Tonks' cry of "I need help down here!" from the main floor.

Mrs. Black started shrieking again – Sandry and Daja covered their ears and looked around in confusion. Everyone ran downstairs.

Tonks was struggling to get a still form onto the sofa. At first, Harry couldn't see who it was, but then she moved and–

"Remus!" shouted Sirius as he ran over to his friend.

"...HOW DARE YOU BRING THIS FILTH INTO MY HOUSE..."

"Someone shut her up!" Sirius roared, and Mrs. Weasley ran to the portrait. Within a few seconds it was quiet again.

"What happened?" Moody demanded.

"I don't know," said Tonks. "I didn't see what happened. I was in Diagon Alley as backup and I heard people start screaming. By the time I got there he was already like this and Kingsley and the kids were gone."

Everyone else turned to stare at Sandry and Daja, but were distracted by Tonks reviving Remus.

Remus moaned, looked around confusedly, and then sat bolt upright. Sirius stopped him from standing.

"We were attacked. I saw Briar get hit, then I must have been hit too."

"What was he hit with?" Moody asked.

"Stunning spell"

"_Now _will you do something?" said Sandry.

For a moment Moody just stared at her.

"Get the rest of the Order here," he snapped. "And someone call Dumbledore!"

...

"Based on the information we have," said Dumbledore, "it is safe to assume that Kingsley and the children have been captured by Death Eaters."

In less than an hour, the entire Order of the Phoenix had been assembled around the dining room table and briefed on what had happened. Since they had already known what was going on, Mrs. Weasley was unable to find a reason to keep Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George out of the meeting. Sandry and Daja were standing together near the corner.

"I can understand why they would want to capture a member of the Order, but why Tris and Briar?" said Mr. Weasley. "Could they have just been taken because they happened to be there with Kingsley and Remus?"

"No," said Lupin suddenly. "It was the other way around. _They_ were the targets."

Dumbledore leaned forward. "What makes you say that?"

"It happened fast, so it's hard to be sure, but Briar was hit first. Tris was standing between me and the area that the stunning spells were coming from, but she moved when she saw Briar go down. I think that whoever was attacking us was aiming for her when he hit me. If they were targeting the Order, why would they try to incapacitate the children before us, and why didn't they take me along with Kingsley?"

"Why would You-Know-Who send Death Eaters for two twelve year-olds?" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"They've got some kind of power, don't they?" said Moody. "What I want to know is, how did Voldemortfind out about them?"

His magical eye lingered for a moment on Snape, and then flickered over to Daja and Sandry.

Dumbledore looked at Snape as well. "See what you can find out about their location," he instructed, and Snape got up to leave.

"Wait," said Sandry. Everyone turned to look at her. "We already know where they are."

"I beg your pardon?" asked Dumbledore politely.

"Briar and Tris are that way," she said, pointing in the direction of the back of the house.

"And what is your source for that?" asked Podmore.

"We were right about them being attacked, weren't we?"

Everyone thought about this in silence. Finally, Hestia said, "I don't suppose that you can narrow it down anymore than 'that way,' can you?"

"We can if we come with you."

"Absolutely not!" barked Moody. "We still don't know if we can trust you lot yet. There's no way we're having the four of you running loose while we're in enemy territory–"

"Then just bring me," Daja said suddenly, stepping forward. "That way you'll still have one of us here." Getting a good look at her for the first time since the meeting days ago, Harry noticed that there were thin braids scattered through her dark hair.

"No!" cried Sandry, turning on her friend. "You can't just–"

For the next few minutes they stared at each other in silence, Sandry glaring, Daja looking completely calm. Everyone watched without speaking, feeling like they were intruding on something private. Finally, Sandry looked away with a muttered "Fine."

"Now hold on a minute," Podmore broke in. "We haven't agreed that we're bringing either of you yet. I don't know what you're expecting, but we can't bring kids to a Death Eater nest. Plus, if they went after two of you, I'm sure that they would want all four of you."

Daja looked up at him. "I can handle it," she said softly.

And for some reason, Harry believed her completely.

"You don't have much of a choice," she went on. "One of your people was taken too. We don't know exactly where they are and we can't narrow it down unless we're there. The longer it takes you to find out where they are, the more likely it is they'll get information from him."

As Harry wondered at hearing this kind of logic from a girl that couldn't be any older than twelve, the Order members were quietly debating. "Very well," said Dumbledore finally.

Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth to protest, but Dumbledore kept speaking. "However, there are a few conditions. You are to stay with a member of the rescue team at all times, you will do as they tell you, and if they feel for any reason that you should not be there, you will be brought back. Do you agree to this?"

Daja nodded.

"Right then," said Moody. "Who else is coming?"

Ultimately, Tonks, Hestia Jones, Bill, Mr. Weasley, Sturgis Podmore, and Remus volunteered to go. Sirius and the twins offered, but they were shot down. A few people protested Lupin going since he had just been attacked, but they couldn't change his mind. Judging by the determined look on his face, Harry guessed that he felt more responsible than the others because he had been there.

"You said that you have an idea of where they are. How far?" Moody asked Daja.

Daja closed her eyes and concentrated. "Less than 10 miles," she answered.

"We'll go over just how you know that later. We can't apparate when we're not even sure of where we're going, so we're gonna have to fly."

"Fly?" both girls chorused bewilderedly.

"You're taking the kid," Moody informed Tonks

...

It took another ten minutes for the people that were going to assemble themselves in the back yard. Once they were there, everyone else scrambled to gather enough brooms (Harry donated his for the cause) and put the same Disillusionment Charm on them that had been used on Harry when he left the Dursley house. Harry watched as chameleon-Daja rose wide-eyed into the air, clutching the back of Tonks' robes.

When Sandry slipped back towards the house, Harry was the only one that noticed. He followed after her without thinking. By the time he made it inside, she was already out of sight. For a moment, he wondered if she was trying to follow after the others, but then he heard a clatter from upstairs. Worried, he went to their room on the third floor.

The door was still open when Harry reached it. He looked in to see her sitting slumped against the wall with her face buried in her knees. He looked around the room for whatever he had heard and saw a clock that had probably been sitting on one of the small tables next to the beds face down on the floor on the other side of the room. The door creaked when he leaned on it, and Sandry looked up.

"Sorry," she said, gesturing at the clock and confirming his suspicion that she had thrown it. "I'm just..."

She trailed off, and Harry realized that she was shaking. He couldn't tell whether it was fear, frustration, or both.

For a moment, Harry wondered what it would feel like to have to wait and do nothing while Ron and Hermione were in danger and found himself unable to blame her for her outburst. Instead, he slowly walked over and sat down against the wall as well, being careful to maintain a distance of about four feet.

Harry wasn't sure what a person was supposed to say in this kind of situation. He couldn't say 'they'll be fine'; he didn't know that, and he doubted that empty reassurance from a stranger was something that she needed. Everything else that he could think of seemed either insensitive or hollow, so for a little while he didn't say anything.

"How did you two know?" he blurted out. So much for subtlety. She stiffened, and Harry expected her to clam up again. Instead she relaxed and sighed.

"I guess we can't hide it now," she said, sounding resigned. She was quiet for a while, and Harry thought she wasn't going to say anything after all. He was startled when she began talking again.

"Mages can make...bonds with other people," she started. Harry got the sense that she was being very careful with her words.

"Er, can't everyone?"

"Not like emotional bonds. Magical ones. Like a connection."

Harry thought of his strange dreams and his scar hurting and felt a bit of uneasiness.

"What can you do with it?" he asked quietly.

"It depends on how strong the bond is, but it's mainly about being able to sense someone else"

"Sense?"

"Like being able to tell where the person is, or just being able to feel that they're there. Sometimes we can feel it when a person we're connected to feels a really strong emotion or gets hurt. I have ties to my friends, our teachers, a few other mages and my great-uncle, but he doesn't have magic."

"How do you make them?" Harry asked.

"It can happen just by spending a lot of time around another mage, but we can do it deliberately too."

Sandry still seemed hesitant while she spoke, and she wasn't looking at him. He was sure that she wasn't saying everything, but he was amazed that she had told him anything to begin with. She was getting tense again, and Harry decided to drop it. There was a bit of an awkward pause as he tried to come up with something else.

"So...how long have you four known each other?" he said lamely, but it seemed to work. She turned to look at him fully and said, "About a year and a half."

Harry stared at her in surprise.

"What?" she said in response to his expression.

"Nothing. I just...thought it would have been longer. You seem so close"

"We've been living together," she explained. Harry was curious, but then her gaze dropped from his again and he remembered Briar saying that they didn't have parents. _'Why'_ seemed like too much of a personal question to ask someone who barely knew him.

"That thing you did the other day," he said instead, "can your friends do it too?"

She was quiet again for another moment, and her eyes glazed over slightly. She came back to herself and looked at him. "Well," she said, "We're all ambient mages"

Harry didn't have a clue as to what that meant, but nodded anyway.

"I'm a thread mage, which means that my magic has to do with weaving. Daja is a smith mage"

"Smith as in making things with metal?" Harry wasn't sure of there were any of those left in England.

"Yes. So her power is mainly with metal and fire..."

...

Daja knew that Tris would have loved flying.

After all, the merchant girl always managed to find her way to the highest point of whatever building they were in, and she projected herself out to race the wind when they meditated. To her, feeling it whip against her hair and clothes (which she could hardly see thanks to whatever they had done to her) while being so close to the clouds in her physical form would have been a wonderful experience.

However, Daja was _not_ Tris, and she was unable to loosen the death grip that she had on the (usually) pink-haired woman sitting in front of her.

She tried not to look down and failed. Below her, she could see the earth at about twenty times the distance that she would have felt comfortable with. On the gray strips that she assumed were roads, Daja saw the colourful specks (from where she was) of metal that from what she could sense had people inside. She managed to jerk her eyes back up and turned her focus inward.

Tris and Briar's presence in her mind was far more fuzzy than usual. If it wasn't for the chain of her own magic that led to them, she might not have been able to feel them at all. If they could hear her calling, then they weren't able to answer. It was usually harder to feel them if they were tired, but Daja didn't think that was the reason. It wasn't her either; she could feel Sandry just as strongly as usual.

Speaking of Sandry...

The other girl slipped into her mind; Daja could feel her astonishment as she felt and saw where she was.

_Mila, Tris would _love_ this!_

_I know, _Daja replied ruefully. _What is it?_

Sandry abruptly remembered her purpose. She flashed an image of the boy with glasses and gave her a quick summary of the conversation they had been having. When she was done, she said, _he wants to know what type of magic you have. Is it alright to tell him?_

_Go ahead, but be careful of what you give away._

_Are you sure?_

_I have a feeling that they are going to find out what kind of magic Briar, Tris and I have soon enough anyway. _

Sandry went back to talking to the older boy, and Daja realized that they were drifting off course. She told Tonks, and the woman shouted "More to the left!" at the others.

They were getting closer. Daja closed her eyes to focus, and within a few minutes she felt Briar and Tris almost directly below them. She called out to the others and opened her eyes.

As they descended, Daja looked to see exactly what they had to get through. It was a large, stone building that must have belonged to someone rich. She couldn't make out many details from her still obscenely high vantage point, but at the end of the spacious grounds was what looked like a small village.

"The big one?" Tonks shouted over the rushing wind.

Daja nodded.

Tonks said a word then that Daja didn't recognize, but she guessed based on the inflection that the woman was swearing. Daja mentally filed it away, knowing that Briar would be looking forward to a chance to increase his repertoire.

"Yaxley Manor," Tonks explained.

The name didn't mean anything to Daja, but it seemed like she was right about it belonging to someone rich.

The man that the others called "Mad-Eye" (with good reason as far as she could see) was guiding them down a significant distance away from the house. They landed on the ground in a patch of trees (sweet earth, with iron running through it...) and Tonks made her body go back to normal.

Mad-Eye took Remus, the dark-haired woman, and the blond man with him to the manor wall. Daja couldn't see what they were doing through the trees, but the magic that she could feel them using made her shiver slightly. After awhile, Remus returned alone.

"Some defensive spells on the outer wall," he told them quietly. "Nastier ones on the building itself. Bill, you're a curse-breaker, right?"

Bill nodded.

"The rest of you come take a look too. See if there are any spells that you can identify."

They all filed through the trees and came to the wall. One area of it looked as though they had used explosives. Daja wondered how they had pulled it off without making any noise. As quietly as possible, they all stepped through the hole and caught up with the others, who were examining some of the windows.

They all whispered about whatever magic was on them, and soon Daja found herself unable to even identify half of the words they were using. No one even noticed when she slipped off.

Further down the edge of the house, she knelt down in front of a bar-covered window. It was on level to the ground, so it led to a basement. She reached out her brass-covered hand to touch the bars, but jerked her hand back when an unpleasant tingling sensation came over it. She frowned, then closed her eyes. She was glad that the strange magic was only on the metal; she was able to slowly melt it off, imagining the iron purifying...

"Oy!" a gruff voice shouted, and Daja jerked her head up to see Mad-Eye storming towards her, limping from his false leg. He quickly lowered is voice as his blue eye spun crazily. "What part of 'stay with a member of the rescue team at all times' is so hard to–"

Daja abruptly stood. She was finished anyway. "I think they forgot to put magic on this one."

The man came closer and examined the window himself. He his wand at it, and muttered some things, and then beckoned the others over. He shot a suspicious look at Daja, but they removed the bars and lowered themselves in one at a time. Daja had to wait outside for a while; they had told her to wait until they cleared it. The father of the red-headed family caught her as she slid down.

Daja looked around. They were in narrow, poorly lit stone hallway. It turned a corner at both ends.

"Well?" whispered Tonks. "Can you tell which way to go?"

Daja closed her eyes again.

She spread out her power through the entire floor. There was enough ore in the walls to give her a general idea of the layout, but it was like a maze. There were several small rooms, and Daja felt chilled when she felt the bars along one of the walls on each of them and realized that they were cells. In two of the cells, Daja could faintly feel Tris and Briar. She would need to keep her concentration to find them both; they were spread far apart.

With her eyes still closed, Daja turned right and started walking. She could hear the others scrambling to follow her.

They went like that for a while: Daja silently leading and the others walking behind her. She felt them pass one of the cells, and a gasp from behind her made her eyes pop open.

The others were crowded around the opening of the cell. Looking in, Daja could see the man that had been captured with Briar and Tris lying unmoving on the ground.

They were trying to get the cell open, but it the bars seemed to be rejecting their powers. After a few minutes Daja felt frustrated. The longer this took, the longer it would take to get to Briar and Tris. She reached out and grabbed a bar in each hand.

The wizards went quiet when they saw the rust beginning to spread from the ends of the bars. Once it was deep enough. Daja yanked hard and the two she was holding snapped off. She did the same to the others.

After staring at her again, Remus and Tonks went in to Kingsley and quickly examined him.

"He's been interrogated," Remus said quietly.

The dark-haired woman pointed her wand at the inert form and it lifted into the air.

"Get him outside and apparate him back to headquarters," Mad-Eye instructed. Everyone else got ready to keep moving.

...

"What about Briar?" Harry asked when Sandry had said all she would about Daja.

"Briar has green magic." Harry must have looked confused, because she clarified. "He's a plant mage."

"Hold on a minute," Harry said. "He's a plant mage that's named 'Briar Moss?'"

"It's not a coincidence. He picked it himself."

"Why?"

"Because he had to pick something and he couldn't remember what his real name was."

Once again, Harry thought he should wait to ask for an explanation.

...

For the second time since he had come to this strange place, Briar woke up not knowing where in Lakik's name he was.

Only this time, he was lying on cold stone instead of a bed, and the girls weren't with him.

A noise made him try to jump up, but he was too dizzy. There was a clank, and he looked down to see that his ankle was chained to the wall. He examined the cuff for a key hole, then froze.

There were runes etched into the metal. Mage runes. Niko had drilled the four of them on runes, so Briar was able to identify these ones.

They were intended to seal green magic.

Briar's mind raced. They had not even told the Order what type of magic he had. How did his captors know?

A throat was cleared behind him.

Briar jerked his head back up to see a hooded man standing on the other side of a set of bars. It took Briar a moment to realise that he was in a cell.

"I thought that it was time to wake you up," the man said. "We have something that we would like to discuss with you." Briar started pulling at the chain, and the man said in a bored tone, "It is useless to try to break free that way."

(_It is useless to try to escape. The Emperor keeps what he wants_)

At first, Briar thought that the words had come from the man. But his lips hadn't moved, and the voice was different. Briar shook his head slightly to clear it.

"Where's my friend?" he asked. He couldn't feel Tris anywhere, and he fought off panic at what that could mean.

"Who?"

"The redhead that was with me."

"Ah yes, Miss. Chandler. Don't worry, she is unharmed and will remain so as long as the two of you cooperate. You see, our Master is very interested in your powers"

(_The Emperor wishes for you to enter his service. We are interested in the powers of your teacher and student as well, but if you cooperate with us we will release them._)

The voice was back, and this time Briar had the image of another cell with a different man in his mind. He tried again to clear his head. He had to stay focused and find Rosethorn and–.

Briar blinked. Tris. He had to find _Tris. _

"Stupefy!" a voice cried, and Briar looked up again to see the hooded man fall to the ground. A dark, very familiar face appeared in front of the bars.

"Took you long enough, Trader," he said to Daja. Then he rattled the chain. "Now get this thing off of me"

...

"And your other friend? Tris?"

"Tris is a weather mage," Sandry informed him, "so her power is with everything from lightning to earthquakes"

Sandry seemed to be looking at him for his reaction again, and he knew that he looked stunned as he took that in.

...

Tris opened her eyes to see Briar's face about two inches from hers. She jumped and instinctively tried to hit him.

"Hold still!" Daja scolded her as Briar cracked up laughing. The other girl had her hands at Tris's ankle. A few seconds later, she was lifting away what looked like a cuff and chain. Tris looked around to see most of the Order crowded in what looked like a small cell and staring at her intently.

"What happened?" she asked, and then remembered Briar getting hit by the red light. She grabbed his sleeve.

"Are you alright?" she asked anxiously. He responded by rolling his eyes.

"We were attacked by our enemies, and you were captured." Remus told her. "Daja was able to lead us to you."

The sound of footsteps suddenly rang through the hallway.

"We've got company," said the strange-looking man. "I suppose we'll have to fight our way out."

_Hey Sandry? _Briar called through their tie. _Want to give us some back-up?_

...

The two of them were sitting in silence when Harry saw a smile flash across Sandry's face. It was gone so quickly that he wondered if he had actually seen it, but then she got to her feet.

"I'm sorry," she said to him, "but I would like to be alone for a while."

Harry got up to leave. As he reached the door, she called out to him and he turned back to face her.

"I wanted to ask, what is your name?"

He couldn't help tensing. "Harry, Harry Potter."

There was no shock on her face. Her eyes didn't flick up to his forehead like he was used to. Instead, she merely smiled at him and said. "Thank you, Harry."

For the first time, it fully occurred to Harry that she and her friends had never heard of the Boy Who Lived. That realization jolted something in him, and he found himself wanting to stay and talk longer.

Instead, he walked out of the room and shut the door. As it swung closed, Harry saw her pick up their thread off of the small table that the clock had once been on.

_TBC_

**...**

**I don't really know if the reviews I have posted are going to come with me when I move the story, but I'll answer them anyway.**

**Someone: Thank you!**

**stormrider7****: Thanks for telling me I could just move it instead of reposting. I looked into it and…it's actually pretty easy to do (I'm kind of new at this if you can't tell :P). I'm glad at least someone caught Tris's memories coming back a bit (no one else commented on it so I wasn't sure who noticed). Briar had his turn in this chapter.**

**Guardian Writer****: What happened was that the thread tried to trap everyone, but they slowed it down by moving. Harry would have been caught in just a few more seconds, but Sandry passed out before that happened. Harry stayed standing after that, so he could see into the box (didn't want to chance sitting down again). Sorry if the way I wrote it was confusing.**

**BlackCatHikari****: Thanks! I'm glad this is turning out decently.**

**Arkeus****: It's okay! Thanks for reviewing at all.**

**Also...I have an idea for a Circle-raises-Harry fic. I don't know when I would get to it, but would anyone be interested if I wrote it?**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm doing reviews first this time.**

**Guardian Writer****: I had been planning to bring Ron and Hermione back in soon, and it ended up being in this chapter. I had already planned to put partial explanation into the story itself, but it would probably help with context if I answered your question more fully here. Hermione **_**is **_**very interested in the Circle; the problem is that they don't want to answer questions.**

**Even by the age they are now, they have experienced jealousy and fear over their magic, the pirates' attempt to kidnap them, and have had lectures from Niko about how much some people would be willing to give them for it. If the strange people that they are dependent on (and who they have no idea of how they ended up with) don't know what they can do, then they aren't that eager to enlighten them. Because of this, they have been maintaining as much distance as possible. A few people in the order have introduced themselves (which is why they knew Remus and Kingsley's names) but that is pretty much it for contact. I mentioned in chapter four that they even ate meals in their room. The Order realizes they are untrusting and defensive, and because of Sandry, they know that they have unknown powers. No one (besides Moody) is about to push them to start talking. **

**The scenes in Grimmauld place have mainly been in the Circle's perspective, so Hermione's interest in them hasn't been directly seen in the story yet. Once the circle gets more comfortable, she's going to get very curious…**

**As to Harry acting, well…he wasn't planning to. Harry went in the room because he felt bad for Sandry, but then couldn't think of what to say, mildly panicked, and blurted out the question he was trying **_**not **_**to ask. Fortunately she was willing to talk, but she still heavily edited her answer. **

**Harry's trial happened in chapter 4; I mentioned it in the section before Briar and Tris leave with Kingsley and Remus. It went the same as it did in the book.**

**stormrider7****: Thanks! **

**By Circle-raises-Harry, I meant Harry getting sent to their world when he's young and growing up with the circle (post WotE Circle, not Discipline Circle). Sorry if it was vague; I guess with magic involved "raise" could mean something else. **

**Avatar of Wurms****: Don't worry, Kingsley's going to be ok.**

**Kirias****: I'm focusing on this story right now (and I'm still working out details for the other one) so I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I'm going to try to start it before the end of the summer anyway.**

**Thanks also for the reviews from ****someone**** and ****Eye of a Hawk**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

…**.**

The Order members moved into the hallway, but the man Daja identified as Bill blocked Tris, Briar, and Daja when they tried to do the same.

_They don't want to be trapped in the cell when they have to fight, _said Daja_._

_They probably want you to stay inside so you won't get hurt, _piped in Sandry, who was watching through Tris's eyes.

_Or they just don't want us to get in their way, _said Briar_. _

_Sandry's explanation is sweet, but I don't think they need to worry either way. _As she spoke, Tris began gathering every draft in the manor.

Shouts and flashes of different coloured light started coming from the hall.

_The light is coming from the wands, _Tris observed

_Briar?_ called Daja. _Want to help me with this?_

Tris narrowed down their targets by having her breezes bring her unfamiliar voices. She picked out two of the 'Death Eaters' and–

_What kind of name is that, anyway?_ Briar interrupted.

_We can talk about that later, _said Daja. _Focus._

The two of them each concentrated on the people Tris singled out. Briar made the wood of his man's wand regrow leaves and start tangling roots around his fingers. Daja gathered heat around the wand of her Death Eater to make it burst into flame. Both dropped their wands in shock, and judging from what Tris could hear, they were quickly taken out by the Order.

_It would be easier if we could see them, _Daja said. She turned to Tris. _Do you think your shields will work?_

Tris shrugged. _Maybe. You got through their magic to get here, so it looks like we can affect it. _

The three of them tried to get out of the cell again. Bill moved to stop them, but Tris carefully pushed him aside with a gust of wind. As they stepped into the hallway she pulled up her barriers around them, with Sandry feeding her strength with her own and their thread.

"Get back inside!" Mad-Eye roared at them, but they ignored him. There were roughly eight 'Death Eaters' left on their feet. All wore white masks that obscured their faces. Tris bowled over four of them with another wind. A fifth got tangled up in his own robes and fell over.

_Nice,_ Briar told Sandry approvingly, _but don't make it too obvious. They don't know that you're here yet. _

"Hey Mad-Eye," called Tonks, slowly backing away as sparks began forming in Tris's hair. "I don't know what they're doing, but why don't we just let them keep doing it? It seems to be working so far."

_This would be easier out in an open area, _Tris told the others.

Briar looked around. The walls around them were stone, and from what he could sense the hallway was submerged into the ground up to about two feet down from the ceiling. He had no idea how to get out.

(_Plants are rock killers. They sink their roots into the cracks_.)

Deciding that he could worry about the potential insanity in hearing strange voices in his head later (and why the words sounded so exasperatingly familiar), Briar decided to take the hint and cast out with his power. The corner closest to the Death Eaters was against one of the outer walls, and he found exactly what he needed.

_Tris? _he called, quickly filling her in on his idea and what he needed her to do.

As spells bounced off of her shield, Tris tugged on a wind outside. The wind rattled through an elm tree, blowing the seeds against the wall. Once the seeds were in place, Briar thrust his power into them.

Everyone else in the hallway turned to stare as the wall rumbled, then caved inward. Roots coiled through the rubble, and the sky was exposed through a gap in them.

The three of them sprinted past the stunned Death Eaters (Tris, who was the least athletic by far, was using her breezes to give herself a boost) and scaled both the rubble and the now adult elm trees to get outside.

_Are they following you? _Sandry asked.

They turned to look. The Death Eaters were coming up through the hole as well, and it looked like the Order was pursuing them.

Tris called on her breezes again to slam them back into the wall, where the ivy began to coil around them. A few tried to cast spells, but Daja set their wands on fire again.

It was at about this point that they all noticed the crowd of people that had started to gather around the hole in the outer wall that the Order had used to get in.

"Time to go," muttered Tonks, and she ran over, grabbed Daja, and they both disappeared. Bill did the same with Briar. Tris had just enough time to snag something off the ground when Remus caught hold of Tris and the world went black.

…

After he left Sandry, Harry ended up wandering back to his own room. Ron and Hermione were waiting for him when he got there.

"Where were you?" Hermione demanded instantly. "While you were gone Hestia came back with Kingsley."

"Is he okay?" Harry asked.

"He's still unconscious, but Madam Pomfrey came to take a look at him. He's in rough shape, but she says that he'll be alright. Where have you been?"

"I was with Sandry."

They both stared at him blankly.

"I wanted to see if she was okay, and then we got talking–"

"She actually talked to you?" Ron asked incredulously.

In a different context, that would have sounded very insulting. But Harry understood Ron's scepticism. He was still feeling a bit shocked himself. Since their arrival at Grimmauld place, Harry couldn't help thinking of them as a single unit; talking to Sandry had been the first time that he had even seen one of them alone. They were constantly together, and they had not communicated with anyone else any more than was strictly necessary. The Order had decided to give them time to adjust.

"What did you talk to her about?" said Hermione, leaning forward intently.

"Er, how long she's known the others, the kind of magic they all had…"

As soon as he said it, Hermione was drilling him for answers. He recounted their conversation the best that he could.

"Ambient Magic," she repeated slowly.

"Mean anything to you?" asked Ron.

"Not really, but I know that ambient has to do with elements of a person's surroundings. And that fits with what Sandry said their powers were…"

Something seemed to occur to Hermione. She frowned.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked her.

"It's just...Sandry said that their bond only lets them feel emotions and how or where a person is, right?"

"Yeah," said Harry, wondering where Hermione was going with that.

"But she and Daja were able to describe what a stunning spell looked like when Tris and Briar were the only one's there".

Harry thought about this and realized that Hermione had a point. He opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off by the sound of a series of apparitions.

"They're back," Hermione said, scrambling to her feet.

As they made their way down the stairs, Sandry hurtled past them. They saw her keep going when she hit the bottom, not stopping until she barrelled into Tris and Briar. She clung to them both and burst into tears while they looked at each other, clearly not knowing how to respond. Harry looked around and was relieved to see that everyone had returned in one piece.

"I said I'd bring them back, didn't I?" said Daja to Sandry as she shepherded her friends upstairs.

Once they were gone, Mrs. Weasley turned to ask Tonks what had happened.

"You didn't have to worry about them after all, Molly," said Tonks. "Honestly, they only needed us for transportation."

It wasn't until she was done telling them what had happened that Harry noticed that Lupin had vanished.

…

Daja spent a while once they were back up in their room going over everything that happened up to them finding Tris. Briar filled Tris and Sandry in on the spelled chains, but none of them had any more answers than he did.

They had been sitting in silence for a while when Tris pulled a thin, slightly burnt piece of wood from her sleeve.

_You stole a wand?_ asked Sandry incredulously.

_It was from one of the people that attacked us_, Tris said. _I felt it was justifiable. And not one word out of you, _she snapped at Briar, who was staring at her like he had never seen her before.

_Not bad, Coppercurls._

_What did I just say about you and talking? _

_Now that we have it, what are we going to do with it?_ asked Daja.

_I thought we might be able to find out a bit more about their magic, _explained Tris. _I don't think they can use it without these. When we made the wizards we fought let go of theirs, they stopped shooting magic at us. _

_So does their power come from themselves, or from the wands, _said Daja.

Briar thought about it. _When we first got here, they talked about us being...muggies or something. They said that it meant people that couldn't use magic. If all it takes is a stick, don't that mean that anyone can use their magic?_

_So the power comes from them, and the wands act as a channel? _ Tris mused.

_I wonder if it would work with our magic_, said Sandry.

_We don't need it to. I can make lightning just fine on my own. _

Daja picked it up and waved it experimentally. Nothing happened.

_Try saying something, _suggested Briar. _Sometimes they say stuff when they use it._

_I don't think that shouting random words is going to help, _said Tris.

"Stupefy," Daja muttered while waving the wand.

_Stupi-what? _

_I heard them say that a few times. It's what they do to get that red light that knocks people out. _

_Let me try, _said Briar, reaching for it. Daja handed it to him.

The instant he touched it, oak leaves began popping out of the bark. It dropped to the floor and kept growing. By the time that Briar was able to stop it, it looked like a tree that was as tall as their knees. It wobbled for a few seconds, then toppled over, roots unable to sink into the floor.

After a moment of silence, Tris said, _What was that!_

_I don't know!_ Briar's mental voice sounded almost panicky. _It was like the wood was already alive and–_

He was cut off by a polite knock on the door. Remus's voice called, "Can I come in?"

They all froze, and then Briar hissed, _Hide it, HIDE IT. _

The four of them managed to shove the wand/tree under Sandry's bed. Once they were sure that it was covered, Daja called for Remus to come in. He opened the door and smiled faintly at the sight of the four of them sitting on the floor.

"May I speak to Tris alone for a moment?" he asked.

They looked at each other, considering it, and then the other three got to their feet. As they left the room, Briar told Tris, _We'll be watching. If he does anything weird, just blast him and we'll deal with it after. _

Feeling rather edgy, Tris moved to sit on the wooden chair in the corner of the room. He moved towards her, but stopped a couple of feet away.

Without a word, he reached into the bag he had hanging over his shoulder, pulled out something white, and placed it in her lap. Tris looked down to see what he had given her. It was the toy dog from the store window.

For the first time, she took a good look at the man and noticed that his clothes were patched, the bag he had taken it out of was battered, and he looked thin and exhausted. If she had seen him when she was back in Capchen working in one of her family's stores, she would have been questioning whether or not he could actually afford to buy anything. She wondered what the toy had cost him.

Warily, Tris examined him for any signs that it was a trap.

_I don't think it is,_ said Sandry from the sitting room. _If anything, he looks a bit nervous. _

Sandry was right; the man looked like he was very unsure of how she would react. Then he cleared his throat and spoke.

"I know that you said you were too old for things like this, but I saw you looking at it and thought that you might want it anyway."

She couldn't find any falseness in him.

Tris suddenly didn't know what to do, so she stared at the dog. Her hands tightened, and she felt its softness. Her chest felt tight. She wasn't sure why.

The image of the little girl popped into her head again, and she found herself suddenly saying, "It's not for me."

"Who is it for?" Remus asked curiously.

She trembled slightly and mumbled, "I don't know." The words came out sounding much more childish than she had intended.

_It ain't just you, Coppercurls. _Tris could tell that Briar was speaking to her alone. _I saw it too. Well, not the kid, but something that wasn't real. _

_What did you– _Tris began to ask, but she was cut off by Sandry saying, _What are you two talking about?_

_Nothing, _Briar told Sandry. _We'll talk later, _he told Tris

Tris looked back up at Remus, unconsciously hugging the dog closer to herself.

"Thank you," she said quietly.

The man nodded, and then left her alone.

…

Remus returned in the evening with something bulging in his bag, went upstairs for a little while. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were helping Mrs. Weasley set the table for dinner when he came back down. He gave no explanation for his absence. They had all sat down with Tonks, the rest of the Weasleys, Sirus, and everyone else who had gone on the rescue mission to start eating when a sound from the doorway made them turn. Briar, Tris, Sandry, and Daja stood there.

Harry felt a bit surprised. Usually, two of them would come down before or after a meal, get food, and vanish back upstairs with it. It felt strange to see them all there.

Mrs. Weasley got up. "Hold on," she said. "I'll get something together for you."

"Actually…" said Sandry hesitantly "We were wondering if we could eat down here."

It took a little bit to sink in, but then Mrs. Weasley hurried to assure them that it was alright, and managed to dig up four more chairs.

_TBC_

…

**Sorry if there are typos. I looked it over quickly, but it's about 2:30 a.m. right now. 0_o**


	7. Chapter 7

**Reviews:**

**GuardianXAngel: Thank you :) (Now I'm wondering what out of what I have planned for the story is the "Ball"...)**

**Avatar of Wurms: Yes, Briar broke a wand. It's magic-infused wood; I figured something had to happen when he touched it. You'll get some Hermione in this chapter.**

**Guardian Writer: Spells or not, they were essentially using weapons made of wood against a plant mage and someone that could control fire. It's like Briar said in WotE: "Stop playing by their rules and start playing by ours."**

**Incidentally, I originally didn't intend to bring Evvy back into it this early, but as I was writing I realized that she fit really well into the scene. And since a few people wanted to hear more from her, I decided it was time for at least her voice to make a appearance.**

**someone: Thanks! You can probably skip checking for an update tomorrow though :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

The first night that Briar, Tris, Daja and Sandry ate dinner with them was a bit awkward. They still seemed very hesitant about the whole thing. Harry couldn't help but feel that they would bolt if they tried to get much conversation out of them then, and the rest of the Order seemed to feel the same way. Things were fairly quiet on their side as well; much of what would have been normal discussion seemed like too much information to give the kids at that point. There was some communication at the beginning as everyone that had not already been introduced gave their names, but the rest of the meal ended up progressing in a slightly tense silence.

At the end, Briar and the girls thanked Mrs. Weasley and Sirius (who they had somehow discovered to be the owner of the house), gathered their dishes and brought them to the sink, and went back upstairs. Harry, while acknowledging that the evening could have gone much worse, couldn't help but feel that it could have gone better. As a result, he was startled the next morning when the four mages came down to join Harry, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, and the Weasleys for breakfast.

For a little while, they all were quiet again. Until Ginny looked over at Daja sitting across the table and said uncertainly, "So...on your hand, is that some kind of jewellery?"

Daja swallowed the eggs in her mouth and answered. "Not exactly." She tentatively held her bronze palm out to Ginny, who took it with the same attitude. Ginny stared at the hand for a moment as if she was trying to convince herself that she was seeing wrong, but then she started running her fingers over the metal and her eyes widened in shock. Harry leaned over to see as well.

The metal was fused into her hand, fitting her like skin.

"How...," Ginny started, and then trailed off, unable to find the words.

"It happened when I was using my magic. I was holding a staff with a bronze cap and it melted off onto me."

Everyone stared at her.

"But didn't that _hurt?_" asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Not really."

"But it was molten metal!" Hermione exclaimed.

Daja looked over at her friends, and then got to her feet. She walked through the kitchen door and slightly out of Harry's line of sight. When Ron, who had a clear vantage point, swore and jumped to his feet, Harry got up as well to see what was happening. Daja was crouched in front of the stove. She had opened the door to the flame and then stuck her normal hand in.

The wizards still sitting stood up in alarm when they realized what she was doing, but Sandry, Tris, and Briar didn't move. Daja pulled out her hand. Cupped in her palm was a ball of flame. She carefully got to her feet and walked back to the doorway.

"Fire and metal are part of my power," she told them, eyes fixed on the flame that somehow still danced on her palm without fuel. "I can't burn." She closed her hand and the fire went out.

While Daja's friends continued eating and everyone else stood speechless, Hermione asked, "Can all mages do that?"

Daja shrugged. "Some ambient mages. It depends on what type of power they have. My teacher and me are both smith mages, so we can touch fire. Briar's teacher's a plant mage like him, so she can't. Tris actually _likes_ getting hit by lightning."

The redhead briefly looked up from her meal to glare at her.

Harry was stuck trying to process the lightning thing, but Hermione kept going. "What do you mean by 'ambient'?"

Tris lifted her gaze to Hermione as Daja walked back to her seat. "There are two main types of mages: academic and ambient. Academic mages' power comes directly from them, and ambient mages can only use their power in connection to whatever their magic is with." Tris paused. "Well, there are Healers to, but that's sort of classified as academic magic."

Sandry took over to elaborate, and the wizards gradually returned to their seats and listened intently. Harry could almost physically feel the ice breaking.

Apparently Briar could too. As the others became more absorbed in the conversation, he went from eating normally to shoving his food into his mouth so quickly that Harry was amazed he wasn't choking. By the time he finished his plate, the whole table was staring at him.

"Would you like some more?" Mrs. Weasley asked finally.

Briar's instantly grabbed his plate and held it out in front of him.

Sandry leaned over and whacked his arm lightly.

"Yes please," he said.

Once Briar's plate had been reloaded and he had returned to stuffing himself, Remus spoke up.

"You talked about your teachers earlier. You all just have one?"

Daja nodded. "It's like an apprenticeship. What do you do?"

"We have schools. How do you settle on your teachers?" Harry could tell that Remus was slipping back into professor mode.

"When a mage discovers the power of another mage, then the untrained mage is legally his or her responsibility," Tris explained. "If the mage decides that for whatever reason they aren't a suitable teacher, then he has to find someone that is."

"What do you mean by 'discovered'?" Hermione asked. "Wouldn't someone already know that they're mages when they're born?"

Sandry, Briar, Tris and Daja were all starting to look confused.

"How would they?" Sandry asked. "Magic turns up all over the place. None of our parents were mages–" she quickly glanced at Briar and added, "that we know of, and they never knew that we are. Ambient magic is hard to spot. Most of the signs people look for have to do with academic magic. My teacher didn't even know that she was a mage until she was thirty–"

While Harry was preoccupied by the fact that she was speaking of their parents in the past tense, Hermione had picked up on something else.

"Hold on," she said abruptly. "Everyone where you come from knows about magic? Even the people that can't use it?"

The four of them looked at each other. "'Course they do," said Briar slowly. "Why wouldn't they?"

After that revelation, almost everyone at the table looked ready to jump in with a question. Fortunately for the mages, they were interrupted by someone ringing the doorbell.

The Order members glanced at each other in alarm, and then Sirius and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to the door. Bill and Remus remained in their seats, but tensed and took out their wands.

Harry could hear the door opening, an exclamation of surprise, and then low murmuring. As the voices came closer, Harry became able to make out words.

"–would have been simpler to apparate inside," Mrs. Weasley was saying.

"I thought it would be more polite to arrive at the door." Harry felt a shock go through him at the sound of Dumbledore's voice. "You don't have to worry, Molly. I was within the wards."

They all made it back through the dining room door.

"Ah," said Dumbledore, spotting the mages. "I was hoping to have a word with you four."

Briar, Daja, Tris and Sandry looked at each other again, and with the almost eerie synchronization that they always seemed to have they got up, brought their dishes to the sink again, and followed him out of the room and up the stairs.

...

"What d'you suppose they're doing up there?" asked Ron for the tenth time several hours later. "They even missed dinner."

Harry didn't know, and it was making him feel rather bitter. Just like at the trial, Dumbledore hadn't even so much as glanced at him. On top of that, he was still feeling rather frustrated from being out of the loop for months. Now he had no idea what Dumbledore was telling them.

Harry was currently continuing on with the endless battle against doxies with Ron, Hermione, and Sirius. Sirius had been looking a bit tense, and Harry remembered that he wasn't that pleased with Dumbledore either.

Then Harry heard the now-familiar sound of apparition. They all went downstairs, meeting Remus and the rest of the Weasleys on the way.

Dumbledore was in the hallway, with Briar and the girls gathered around him.

"You took them somewhere?" Mrs. Weasley asked, stunned.

"There were a few things that needed attending to. We will discuss it later" said Dumbledore lightly. He turned back to the mages and said. "Now then, someone should be by with the supplies you need by tomorrow."

Sandry thanked him, and the four of them went back upstairs.

"What about dinner?" Mrs. Weasley called after them a bit too late, still looking a little flustered.

"I have already seen to it that they had something to eat," Dumbledore reassured her. Then he paused, considering something. "Although if how Briar ate it was any indication, I believe he would appreciate a snack"

...

The next morning, Harry and Ron were woken by a pounding at their door. Harry, still half asleep, somehow get over to it, jerk it open, and stand there leaning heavily against the frame. Hermione and Ginny were standing there, and Hermione was waving something under his nose. It was the _Daily Prophet_, and Harry jolted awake and grabbed it once he was able to process the headline on the front page.

_YOU-KNOW WHO RETURNED? RECENT EVENTS SUPPORT POTTER'S STORY_

The paper was snatched out of his hands before he could read the article by Ron, who had made his way to the door as well.

Harry tried unsuccessfully to get out a coherent question, but fortunately Hermione understood what he was trying to say.

"When the Death Eaters captured Briar and Tris, they openly went after them in Diagon Alley," she explained. "Then when they were rescued, witnesses saw a group of people wearing the masks at the manor of someone suspected to be a Death Eater during the war. They dissaparated, and no one's seen the owner since. The Ministry tried to hush it up, but it convinced a lot of people that he's back. Not everyone believes it but–"

"Uh-oh," said Ginny, reading over Ron's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"_There have also been reports of three children being seen at the scene of about eleven or twelve; a boy and girl with dark skin and hair and a red-haired girl,_" Ginny read._ "According to the witnesses, they seemed to be using an unknown power against the people wearing Death Eater masks and were taken away by others that were with them. The boy and the girl with red hair match the descriptions of the two children that were reportedly attacked in Diagon Alley. So far, the Ministry has not answered any questions on their identity._"

"Is the ministry looking for them now?" Harry asked.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know any details, but apparently Professor Dumbledore has taken care of it."

The girls waited outside while Ron and Harry got dressed. The four of them headed downstairs together.

Harry hadn't seen this many people around the table since his first night at Grimmauld Place. The four of them managed to get chairs between Remus and Fred. Sandry, Daja, Briar and Tris were sitting on the other side of the twins. George was talking to them very quietly, making Harry wonder if he was trying to sell them something. No one else at the table noticed; they were all talking excitedly about the new development.

"There are still a lot of people that don't want to believe that Voldemort is back, but this is a huge step," Remus explained. "We're going to try to build off of this."

"Why didn't the Ministry stop the _Prophet_ from running the article?" Hermione asked.

Remus smiled wryly. "The Ministry tried to convince the witnesses that they were mistaken, but there were too many for it to work." People started getting angry that the Ministry was trying to sweep it all under the rug, and they had to severely cut back on their attempts to convince people that Harry and Dumbledore were lying to appease them."

When they were clearing up breakfast, Professor McGonagall arrived with several rolled-up bundles of fabric in various colours, including a black one as thick as Harry's waist. Sandry ran over to her.

McGonagall was levitating the fabric and carrying a paper bag. She handed the bag to Sandry and asked, "Is this everything you'll need?"

Sandry looked into the bag and nodded eagerly.

"Your other things are already in your room, but I wanted to check with these before I sent them up," McGonagall waved her wand and the fabric vanished.

Sandry thanked her enthusiastically, and then grabbed Daja's hand.

"We can start yours first," she said as she almost dragged Daja towards the stairs. Looking like she wanted backup, Daja seized the back of Briar's robes as they went past him and almost yanked him off his feet. Briar caught hold of Tris's arm, and the four of them disappeared up the staircase.

...

After Professor McGonagall's visit, the four mages began largely secluding themselves in their rooms again and stopped eating in the dining room. That, along with all of the Order members in the house (apart from Mrs. Weasley and Sirius) spending most of their time out trying to build off of the momentum that the article had started, made the house feel very busy.

The mages continued to make a few appearances, one of which occurred after dinner one night about a week later. Harry was in his room playing exploding snap with Ron when they were interrupted by a knock at the door. Expecting Hermione, Harry was startled to see Sandry standing there with Briar leaning against the wall behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked, wondering why they had come.

"We're fine," she told him. Her eyes wandered over the room behind him. "I was just wondering...may I borrow that?"

Harry followed the direction of her finger and realized that she was pointing at a pair of his school robes that was hung over a chair.

"My robes?" he said, surprised. He tried to remember if they had been washed since school ended. "Er, sure, I guess."

"Thank you!" she said brightly. She swept into the room, picked up the robe, beamed a smile at him and left, leaving Harry standing there still feeling a bit stunned and confused.

Ron looked out into the hallway at Briar, who was still standing there watching them.

"She always like this?" Ron asked.

Briar shrugged and said, "You either get used to it or go mad."

"Which one happened to you?"

Harry had intended his question to be a joke, but he found himself feeling not at all reassured when, instead of answering, Briar merely shrugged again and walked away.

The next eight days were largely uneventful; the house was mainly empty, the Order had meetings late into the night, and Harry only caught brief glimpses of Briar, Tris, Sandry and Daja in the hallway. It wasn't until the day before they were set to head back to Hogwarts that anything eventful happened.

Ron and Hermione got prefect badges. Harry didn't.

Mrs Weasley managed to gather together her family (minus Percy), Sirius, Tonks, Lupin, Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt (who had made a full recovery) together for a party downstairs to celebrate, complete with a banner and a table covered with food.

Feeling a bit lost, Harry drifted around the room, joining a few conversations until he heard someone say his name.

"...why didn't Dumbledore make Potter a prefect?" said Kingsley.

"He'll have had his reasons," replied Lupin.

"But it would've shown confidence in him. It's what I'd've done," persisted Kingsley, "'specially with half the wizards in the UK still saying he's mad..."

Harry didn't even look at them. Instead, he found himself drifting closer to the staircase leading back upstairs.

After a while he heard Mrs. Weasley yawn in the kitchen.

"Well, I think I'm going to turn in," she said. "I meant to sort out that Boggart first, but I'm so exhausted from last night's meeting...Arthur, I don't want this lot up too late, all right?"

She said good night to Harry as she passed him. He debated following her but ended up just staying where he was for a while.

"Why's all this prefect stuff so important, anyway?"

Harry jumped at the sound of Tris's voice and spun around to see her sitting on the steps leading upstairs. He had no idea when she'd gotten there, and for a moment he was wasn't sure if he had even heard her speak. She had a book open in her lap and seemed absorbed in it. When he didn't answer, she closed the book, pushed her glasses up on her face, and looked at him. As Harry moved closer, he saw that she was reading _A History of Magic._

She still seemed to be waiting for an answer.

"We have four houses in our school," he began. "Prefects are picked from each of them, and they help organize things.

Tris listened as he went over prefect duties and why it was so important to Mrs. Weasley.

"I wouldn't want to do it," she said when he was done, and the two of them fell into silence. Harry went back to looking around the room. He noticed that Lupin seemed different from usual and realized after a moment that he was wearing new robes. He wondered if his former professor had been able to find a new job.

"Hello," Harry heard Tris said softly, and he looked around to see who she was talking to. Crookshanks was sniffing her knees. Tris held out a hand for him to smell, and when he started purring she moved to scratch the top of his head.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Crookshanks," he told her. "He's Hermione's cat."

"The girl with brown hair?"

Harry nodded.

"He's _gorgeous_," Tris said. As if he could understand her, Crookshanks rubbed his ridiculously squashed face against her and purred harder

"Er, yeah. You like animals?" he asked. She nodded, actually looking her age for the first time that he'd seen.

"They aren't like people. If you're nice to them and you're patient, then they like you. It doesn't matter to them if someone isn't perfect, or if their different or not pretty enough."

The combination of innocence and bitterness in those words momentarily took Harry's breath away.

"Wait here," he told her, suddenly having an idea. He ran up to his room and opened the door. Hedwig, who he had shut it her cage in preparation for the next day, blinked drowsily. He opened the cage and coaxed her onto his arm, then carefully made his way back downstairs.

Tris was still sitting on the step and petting Crookshanks when he made it back. She looked up at Hedwig's soft hoot and gasped. Harry sat down next to her to let the two of them inspect each other.

"Her name's Hedwig," he said as she hesitantly reached out to the owl. "It's alright, you can touch her."

Tris tentatively ran her fingers over Hedwig's feathers. "She's tame?" the girl asked in surprise.

"Wizards use owls to carry mail," Harry explained. Hedwig hooted softly, then turned her head to nuzzle Tris's fingers. "She likes you."

Tris smiled. For some reason, it looked foreign on her face.

"What does she–"

"Tris," a voice said quietly from behind them, and they both turned around to see Briar standing further up the staircase. Harry, who hadn't even heard him coming down, jumped slightly. "The Duchess is fussing again. She wants you back upstairs."

Tris stroked Hedwig one more time and got to her feet. She went upstairs without a word, and Harry noticed that her face was flushed.

Briar didn't follow her right away. He passed Harry on the stairs, went to the table, and gathered some food on a plate. Looking at the amount, Harry hoped that he was planning to share it with the girls. As he watched him, he saw just how he had missed his presence on the staircase. He moved almost silently; no one else in the room even noticed that he was there. As the boy made his way back to the steps with the plate his eyes met Harry's.

For just an instant, Harry thought he saw something in the boy's eyes that he couldn't place. It wasn't until what he had seen disappeared and Briar was going back up the stairs that he realized it had been a small flash of resentment.

After Moody found him, showed him a picture of the old Order, and went over how most of the members had died, Harry found himself unable to stay at the party. He went back upstairs to finish packing, still wondering what he had done to offend Briar, and found the robe he had given Sandry neatly folded outside his door.

_TBC_

**...**

**Most of the next chapter is going to be over the same time period as this one, but from the perspective of the Circle, who had a much more interesting time than Harry did. It might take me a bit longer to update though; it's going to be longer since in going to go further than this one. **


	8. Chapter 8

**NOTE:**

**Since this chapter ended up being more than double the length of the others (even after I moved some of the scenes I intended to put in it in the next chapter), I decided to split it into two. Here is part one. The second half will be posted tomorrow night, and I'm going to answer reviews there. Hopefully, these chapters will make up for the long wait.**

**This chapter begins when Dumbledore comes to talk to the Circle.**

**Disclaimer (do I really need to keep posting this?): I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

**August 14****th**

The eyes of everyone else in the dining room followed them curiously as the old man led them out the door and up the stairs, not stopping until they reached the sitting room that they had gone into the first time they talked.

Once inside, he closed the door and turned to face them.

"I apologize from pulling you away from your meal."

_What's his name, again? _Briar asked.

_Albus...Dumbles?_

_Dumbledore, _Tris corrected Daja.

"However," Albus Dumbledore continued, oblivious to their separate conversation, "this matter cannot wait. I must ask you to accompany me somewhere."

Instantly, he gained their full attention.

"Accompany you where?" Tris asked warily.

Albus Dumbledore sighed. "There were witnesses both to your capture and to you using magic to escape. While they do not fully understand what they saw, there are now many rumours circulating about you, and our ministry is becoming very curious. I feel that the best way to deal with this is to confront these issues directly."

"How?" asked Daja.

"By you four going to the ministry in person."

They stared at him blankly.

"From everything we've heard about your ministry, that sounds like the last thing we would want to do," Tris said after a while.

"It is only a matter of time before the ministry begins a full search for you four. I have little time to explain the full situation at the moment, and will once we are done today, but your presence drew attention to something that they would rather be ignored, and if they find you they may try to coerce you to give a story that denies it. In addition, these are difficult times, and you offer an unknown source of power. If you come forward with I and other witnesses present, our Minister be less able to keep claim you are a threat and will lose much of his control over the situation."

Feeling a bit outraged at how the old man was deciding what they should do on his own, Tris looked him in the eyes and drew breath to protest. But once she met the piercing, knowing gaze she abruptly forgot what she was going to say.

_His eyes are like Niko's, _she said, and suddenly she didn't feel like resisting quite so much as she had a moment ago.

"So what are we telling them?" Daja asked. "A lot of what's happened since we got here has had to do with your Order, and you said the ministry doesn't know about that."

"I have told the ministry that I discovered you lost and confused not far from Diagon alley last night, and that when I questioned you, you told me that you knew you had been captured and escaped, but could not remember much else. This implies that you were spelled, so it will explain why you are unable to give details. You showed me your magic, and I decided it was best to keep you out of the public eye and looked after you for the night myself rather than taking you to the hospital. First thing this morning, I went to the ministry to inform them. This story is certainly not fool proof, but it will have to do for now."

"Why does Sandry need to come too?" Daja asked. "She hasn't left the house since we got here, so no one else knows about her yet."

"At this point, I feel it is best to tell as much truth as we can to avoid making it seem as though we are hiding something. It is also the best way to make sure you four stay together."

They were all quiet for a few seconds

"Can I count on your cooperation?" Albus Dumbledore asked them softly.

For a few minutes, the four of them debated, then Sandry looked back at him and gave a single, silent nod.

...

Minutes later, they found themselves being violently shot out of a fireplace and ending up in a pile on a wooden floor.

_Did you know fire could do that? _Briar (who was on the bottom of the pile) asked Daja.

_Not any fire that I've seen before._

_I guess you need that powder he used, _said Tris.

They were just sitting up when Albus Dumbledore (the name was just to astounding for them to be able to use only part of it) stepped gracefully out of the fire and dropped something cool and silky over them.

_What in Trader's name..., _Daja began as she reached up to touch the odd, semi-transparent fabric

_Sandry, do you know what it is?_ Tris asked

_..._

_...Sandry?_

_Sandry!_

_SANDRY!_

Sandry, who had been looking dreamily at the fabric in front of her face, jolted back to herself.

_Wha...oh, um, if you say so..._

She saw them staring at her and went crimson.

"An invisibility cloak," Dumbledore said quietly. They twisted around to look at him. "As long as you are covered by it, others will not be able to see you. The man that had you kidnapped has servants here, and it is best that they do not know that you are here."

The four of them shivered, and then awkwardly managed to get to their feet while staying under the cloak. For the first time, they took a good look at where they were.

The room was massive and full of busy-looking people, none of whom had seemed to notice them. Many more fireplaces were lined up against the walls with people going in and out. The ceiling was vivid blue with moving symbols on it. They briefly noticed a set of golden statues, but before they could figure out what they were supposed to represent, the old man said "Come along now," and started walking. The four of them stayed as close together as they could and hurried along after him.

It seemed that Albus Dumbledore had been truthful about the cloak's abilities. No one so much as glanced at the four small figures moving quickly while bunched together under a sheet of fabric like some bizarre parody of a many-headed ghost. They even bumped into a man who only looked around in confusion for a moment before he kept walking.

_We're invisible, _said Briar. _Should we make a run for it?_

_And go where? _Tris retorted. Briar dropped it.

They went up to a desk. Albus Dumbledore spoke briefly to the man stationed there, who after a moment waved them on. His eyes swept over them as he examined general area they were in. It seemed that he had some inkling that they were there even if he couldn't see them.

They followed the old man through a series of twisting hallways until they stopped in front of a large wooden door (_Oak, _Briar informed them...).

"Wait here a moment," Albus Dumbledore instructed, looking straight at them. "I am going to tell them that you are here, and then come back out to get you."

They could hear nothing through the heavy doors, so they waited in the hall, nervous and invisible. Whenever someone else would walk by they pressed themselves up against the wall to stay out of his or her way. Finally, the door opened again and their guide stepped back out.

The old man carefully reached out, caught the cloak, and pulled it off of them.

"They're ready for you," he told them, and ushered them inside the room. They went to the middle, and he stopped slightly off to the side.

It was clearly an office of some sort, but they size, setup and furnishings made them think that it must be something special. At the other end of the large room was an elegant desk where a short man with an odd hat and a striped outfit sat. From his position in the room, they guessed that he was the Minister.

_Should we bow or something? _Daja asked Sandry.

She very slightly shook her head. _A Minister is an elected position, and it doesn't look like they're expecting us to._

There were other, smaller desks at the sides of the main one that had several men and women sitting at them. One woman smiled at them encouragingly. Most of the others looked at them with intense scrutiny.

They looked back at the Minister. He seemed...stressed, tired.

Then their attention moved to the woman next to him. She looked like some kind of amphibian that was wearing pink. They couldn't say what it was exactly, but something about her gaze put them instantly on edge.

"Hello there," said the woman who had smiled at them. "We've heard that you have...rather unique magic. Do you think that you could tell us a little about it."

They looked at each other.

"We're mages," Sandry found herself saying once again. "My magic is with thread, Tris's is with weather, Briar's is with plants and Daja's a smith mage. And it isn't that unusual," she continued, crossing her fingers discreetly at the small lie. "Lots of people where we're from have magic like ours."

"And where are you from?" the woman asked

"Summersea, in Emelan."

"Preposterous," said one of the men. "There is no such place. Dumbledore, are you even sure that they aren't just confounded?"

There was a tense silence after that.

_I think they want a demonstration, _said Daja.

_Tris, show them!_

_Why does it have to be me?_

_I've seen wizards move things with their magic, so moving thread to convince them won't be enough. The same goes for Daja's magic, and there are no plants in here for Briar to use. _

'_Cept for the wood, but they might not be too happy with me if I break things. Duchess is right, they need something big and you're the flashiest. _

_Will someone just do _something_? It looks like they're getting tired of waiting._

_Fine, _said Tris, and she closed her eyes to concentrate.

At first, the ministry wizards didn't notice the sudden breeze in the room, but they did notice when papers began blowing off the tables. They watched, stunned, as the papers started circling the red-haired girl in a small cyclone. A spark appeared in her short hair. Then another. Once they were crawling thickly through her frizzed curls she reached up and gathered some in her hand. She squeezed them, and when her fingers opened again there was a miniature lightning bolt dancing on her palm.

Feeling the eyes of everyone in the room fixated on her, Tris let both the cyclone and the lightning fade. They had served their purpose.

"Yes, well...," Minister started, and then clearly failed to find anything to say. Instead, he gathered up the papers with a flick of his wand and sending them flying over to someone at the table.

"Sort those out, Weasley," he ordered.

At the word 'Weasley' the four of them started.

_Isn't Weasley the name of that family?_ Daja asked. For the first time, they noticed the young red-haired man who was now hurrying to follow the Minister's orders.

_If his family's in that Order thing, then why's he here? _said Briar. Sandry almost called out to him, but a warning look from Dumbledore made her stop.

"Now that that is settled," he said as he turned back to the Minister, "I suppose that now we need to address where they will be staying."

"Well of course they should remain at the ministry!" the Minister exclaimed. "They need to be monitored closely, and we have the facilities to do so here."

He tried to hide the interest and eagerness in his voice, but it did not escape the four mages' notice.

"They are children, Cornelius, not criminals," Dumbledore replied calmly.

Briar shifted uncomfortably and shoved his tattooed hands into his pockets.

"May I offer a suggestion?" Dumbledore said, his tone still mild.

The Minister, the pink monstrosity, and a few others looked at him warily. The others seemed curious.

"At the moment, I believe that the best solution is to have them come to Hogwarts."

_What's that? _Daja asked

_I've heard people in the house talking about it, _Tris told her. _It's the name of their school. I think Dumbledore is the Headmaster._

The Minister looked both stunned and outraged.

"Now see here!" he spluttered. "We were lenient enough about your delay in informing us that you had them, but if this has anything to do with what you and that Potter boy are doing..."

'_Potter boy'?_ Sandry repeated. _Does he mean Harry?_

_Which one is Harry, again? _Briar asked.

Sandry quickly showed him an image of the boy.

_Oh, right._

"We are still insisting upon the truth, Cornelius," said Dumbledore, "but this is a separate issue. Regardless of who the culprit is, it is clear that someone is after these children, and Hogwarts has proven many times to be a secure location. They will be supervised by the school staff. After all, who can better determine a person's abilities than a teacher? In addition, I believe they will be more comfortable there, as they will be with other people their own age"

_That was one of the reasons that Niko gave for why I should come to the temple after my parents died, _said Sandry.

"Naturally, we will give the ministry reports on what we learn from them."

The Ministers face was going red as he clearly tried and failed to find a good argument to Dumbledore's suggestion.

_This bleater's a joke next to your uncle_, said Briar, and Sandry's chest puffed up with pride.

Then the pink woman leaned over to the Minister, and spoke quietly into his ear. He nodded, seeming to relax.

"Allowing them to go to Hogwarts is certainly one possible solution," she said out loud, sounding both surprisingly youthful and slightly condescending at the same time, "and since you are being so insistent on it I suppose we have little choice." She paused for a moment to let the potential implications sink in to everyone in the room, and then continued. "However, there one little condition that we would like to add." She smiled.

It was a smile that Sandry and Tris recognized immediately; Sandry from the false niceties and shallow politics of Nobles, and Tris from all of the girls that had pretended to be nice to her just to have a laugh with their friends or see her face when they took it back. They both straitened up and tensed.

"It must be so hard on them, being in a strange place. They'll probably have a difficult time adjusting. We would like to send a representative to...check up on them every once in a while. Is that acceptable?"

_He can't say no, _Tris realized. _If he says no, then they can accuse him of wanting to use us for something he doesn't want the Ministry knowing about._

"Very well," said Dumbledore heavily. Now, I believe there are some registration forms that need to be done for them.

...

After that, they were taken to a smaller room that was mainly taken up by a large, oval-shaped wooden table. Dumbledore left them for a while to do some sort of paperwork that he said would allow them to stay in Britain (which they at that moment learned the name for) and attend Hogwarts. Not long after he left, they were approached by four ministry workers who claimed to be from 'child services' and wanted an official statement from them on what had happened.

The four mages glanced at each other. This was the moment where they had to either confirm or contradict Dumbledore's version of what had happened, and while the ministry people seemed kind and concerned for their wellbeing, they could tell that whatever they said would not only be used in that context.

Briar, Tris and Daja stayed mostly quiet, letting Sandry do the talking. The three of them knew that with her big blue eyes, people skills, and experience in navigating politics, she would be able to elicit more sympathy and trust than they could.

They guided her responses through their bond as she told the ministry workers of how they had no idea of how they had been taken from their home (which was actually true), but that they had arrived in Diagon alley instead of Grimmauld place and came a few days later than they actually had. After that, Sandry described how she and Daja were caught first. Apparently, Briar and Tris had gotten away only to be captured later in front of the crowd. Sandry then made the details deliberately vague, trying to reinforce Dumbledore's claim that they had been spelled in an attempt to keep them compliant. She told them that they couldn't remember the faces of the people who captured them or – she continued, using the memory of her worry for Tris and Briar to create a tremble in her voice – what had happened to them (she gained a couple of concerned gasps at this), but she thought they had tried to escape, been moved somewhere else, and then escaped again to find Dumbledore, who had been good enough to take care of them for the night and make sure they were okay before bringing them here.

Briar was having a hard time keeping a straight face. Fortunately, their questioners looked at him burying his face in his hands and simply thought he was overwhelmed with gratitude.

They were asked a few basic questions about their magic to which they gave basic answers, and then they were left alone. For a while, they talked through their magic, but out of a lack of anything better to do they eventually climbed onto the table, sat in a circle facing each other, and started meditating.

They didn't come back to themselves until they felt a presence in the room with them. It was Dumbledore, standing near the wall and watching them silently.

_At least he had the sense not to touch us,_ Tris said as they clambered back down to the floor.

"I am finished what I needed to do here," he told them. "Shall we be on our way?"

He held out his arm for them to take hold of.

...

Briar, Tris and Daja found themselves being once again being whisked away by apparition. For Sandry it was a first, and also a very jarring experience.

_You could have warned me!_ she scolded the others.

Briar shrugged. _What's the fun in that?_

_Where are we? _Tris asked. They seemed to be in an alley.

"We are in a muggle community," Dumbledore unknowingly answered their question as he steadied Sandry. "There are still a few things that I would like to discuss with you. Here, we can talk without gaining too much attention as well as get something to eat."

Briar perked up instantly.

"It is a bit early for supper, but none of us had lunch. But first," Dumbledore continued, "we need to blend in more effectively."

Dumbledore waved his wand over them. At first, none of them noticed anything different, but then Tris looked at the others and gasped. Their clothes had transformed. She was wearing a long grey skirt and a dark blue top with sleeves that reached to her elbows. Sandry's skirt was white and only reached her knees, and she had on a light blue shirt. Both Daja and Briar had on odd-looking breeches that were made out of a coarse, dark blue material. Daja's shirt was a dark orange. Briar's was green with black designs. Sandry reached down to touch the end of her skirt only to discover that while she see new clothes, she was still feeling her robes.

_It's some kind of illusion spell, _Tris informed them.

While they had been examining themselves, Dumbledore had changed his own clothes and was now ushering them out towards the street.

Daja had seen a bit of the non-magical world from the air, but it was her first time seeing it from the ground. The first thing she noticed was the people. There were a lot of them walking around; wearing strange clothes and looking like they were all thinking of something else. One man looked like he was talking into his hand, and it took her a moment to realize that he was holding a small object in it. There was much more metal here than there was back home, and the air had an odd, bitter taste to it.

They were led into a building that a quick look around revealed to be a restaurant of some sort. There were a surprising number of customers considering the time of day. A woman standing in the entrance took them to a vacant table and set down menus in front of them.

Despite having changed his clothes to something that seemed fairly non-offensive (a brown jacket and trousers with a white shirt), Dumbledore still seemed to be attracting many looks. Maybe it had to do with who his companions were. Or maybe it was the sense of authority that the four mages had never felt in anyone else but Duke Vedris.

Or maybe it was just the beard.

"You said that you would explain things," Tris said once the woman had left.

"So I did. What would you like to know first."

They thought for a moment.

"Who's after us?" Briar asked.

"The people that captured you serve a man that calls himself Voldemort. I have a double agent planted among his followers–"

"The man with black hair?" Sandry interrupted. "Severus?"

"How did you know that?" asked Dumbledore.

"When Tris and Briar were caught you were going to send him somewhere for information."

The old man examined her for a moment, then nodded.

"Severus has informed me that Voldemort has a great deal of interest in you four, particularly since you escaped his servants. Moreover, he has also learned that certain Death Eaters were sent out to search for you only a day after you arrived. At that point, you had no contact with anyone in our world outside of our headquarters that we know of, so I must admit that I find this curious."

"So do we," said Tris. "What does this Voldemort person want with us?"

But they already knew what that Voldemort person wanted with them; the same thing that the ministry and everyone else seemed to want with them. Dumbledore could tell that he did not have to answer.

At this point, a young man came to take their order. They had not even opened their menus yet, but Dumbledore simply listed off some things that were probably on it and the man left.

"In the meeting...they said something about 'that Potter boy'," said Sandry slowly. "Did they mean Harry? What did he do?"

Dumbledore sighed, looking suddenly weary. "Harry has not done anything wrong."

"So then why were they talking about him like that?"

Speaking quietly in the crowded restaurant, the old man told them about how Voldemort had risen to power and tried and failed to kill Harry as a baby, resulting in the loss of his parents and his fame. He briefly talked about Harry facing him when he was eleven, and then again when he was twelve. Then, he told them about Harry witnessing his return to power a few months earlier.

"The Minister does not want to admit even to himself that Voldemort had returned, so he did everything he could to discredit both me and Harry. The ministry has been trying to portray Harry as someone who has allowed fame to make him mentally unstable, and who is now acting out solely to gain attention"

Sandry thought of the young man who had sat with her while she was worrying about her friends and said, _He doesn't seem mentally unstable to me._

_People don't usually bother looking for facts before they believe something, _Tris told her with a little bitterness. _Remember Yarrun thought we started the earthquake?_

"If he doesn't believe that Lord…whatever his name is is back, then why'd he look so nervous in there?" Daja asked.

"Cornelius Fudge was able to more or less manage things in times of peace, but when a crisis emerged he attempted to pretend it had never happened, allowing the situation to get worse. Now he is struggling to retain his power and credibility."

"But I thought you said that people didn't believe Harry," said Daja, feeling a bit lost.

"Most didn't. But since the Death Eaters have visibly acted to target you, more people are questioning the Ministry's claims that Voldemort is still gone. Now, the Minister is feeling a great deal of pressure, which makes me believe that he may try to get control over you four as insurance."

They debated with each other in their minds a bit.

"What about you?" Briar said out loud.

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked, looking a little startled.

For the first time since she had compared the man to Niko, Tris looked him in the eyes. "You told us that your Minister wants to keep us close to him to see if we can be used as weapons," she said. "You told us that this Voldemort person probably wants to capture us for the same thing. What about you? You have to fight against two enemies; it's not hard to see why you would want to control us too. Doesn't taking us to your school make sure that we'll be somewhere that you can watch us, and mean that we'll have to depend on you?"

While Dumbledore seemed momentarily lost for words, Sandry spoke up.

"Don't worry, we're still going to the school and we went along with your story in there. Regardless of what you have planned, you seem like our best option at this point. We just want to know where things stand."

The old man closed his eyes, clearly thinking over the best way to answer.

_Do you think we've said too much? _Sandry asked the others.

Briar shook his head very slightly. _You got it right Duchess; we need to know. 'Sides, if he _is_ planning on using our magic, this'll show him that we're not just dumb kids. _

Dumbledore opened his eyes. "I'm afraid there is nothing I can do to prove that I am not lying to you at the moment"

_See? Least he's talking to us like grown-ups now._

"In your current situation, it is very wise to be cautious. For what it is worth I give my word that I am acting with your best interests in mind, and that I have no plans to exploit your magic. However, I find myself increasingly wondering if _I _need to be wary of the four of you."

Briar leaned back in his chair. "I know better than to poke my neb in where it don't belong."

"Pardon?"

"He means that he doesn't see how your war is any of our business," Tris translated. "We'll fight back if we're in danger, but at the moment we want to stay out of it as much as possible and concentrate on getting home."

The conversation shifted to what exactly home was for them. For a while, he asked them questions and they answered them, being careful to avoid telling him anything that they had not already told Harry and the others. They were discussing the mage system for finding teachers when their food arrived.

Still getting used to this world's food, none of them were able to completely identify what they were given. However, they were all hungry enough to eat it without giving it much thought.

"Speaking of your education," said Dumbledore as they ate. "We should discuss what exactly you will be studying at Hogwarts. I doubt that you can attend as normal students. Unless you believe that you can perform our magic?"

Tris shook her head. "It seems really different from ours." _And we definitely shouldn't give Briar another wand._

_I _said _it was an accident, _Briar grumbled.

"In that case, it can be arranged for you to study theory only in subjects that typically require a direct use of magic. I will work out the details with your professors." He paused for a moment, considering. "You will also need school supplies, I suppose. It is still risky for you to go back to Diagon alley, so someone else will bring them to you. Since you do not need wands, the only difficulty will be getting you clothing that fits properly..."

"Actually," said Sandry. "I was hoping to make our clothes myself. I'm a stitch witch, so..."

Dumbledore looked surprised when she started speaking and abruptly taken aback as she finished. He recovered quickly, and for the rest of the meal he and Sandry turned to the relatively simpler topics of material and styles.

...

It seemed that the other residents of Grimmauld place were curious about what exactly they had been doing all day, because a good number of them were gathered nearby moments after they returned.

"You took them somewhere?" asked the red-haired woman.

Dumbledore turned away from them to look at her. "There were a few things that needed attending to. We will discuss it later" he said lightly. Then he focused his attention back on them.

"Now then, someone should be by with the supplies you need by tomorrow."

"Thank you," said Sandry, and the four of them headed upstairs.

They had a lot to talk about.

_TBC_

**...**

**Reminder: look tomorrow night for part 2**

**Let me know if there was anything confusing about this chapter, and I can explain it...**

**I hope Dumbledore wasn't OOC; he's really hard to write**

**And if it seems like they got out of the minister's office to easily, keep in mind that Dumbledore was already there arguing with people that morning.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Here's part 2 of what I've been working on for the last month. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

…**.**

**August 15****th**

As Dumbledore had promised, their things came the next morning.

They had gone down for breakfast to find the house in great excitement. It seemed that the news of the Death Eater's attack had indeed gotten out, and it was a huge step for the order. Feeling a bit unsure of what to say, they sat and listened while one of the twins gave Briar and Daja what sounded like a sales pitch over some things they had created. Since all of their products seemed to be intended for practical jokes, the girls found Briar's interest in them to be very concerning.

After they ate, an older woman that they vaguely recognized arrived to show Sandry the material she had asked for and tell them that everything else they needed was already in their room. Sandry saw to it that they were there in minutes.

They found the material stacked in a neat pile, books stacked on each of their beds, and four trunks containing other things they assumed they would need for their classes.

Sandry, who had started rummaging through the fabric enthusiastically, exclaimed, "They even got us that 'denim' stuff!"

The other three were flipping through the books.

"What kind of writing is this?" Briar asked, squinting at one of the pages. "It all looks the same. And how do they write so tiny?"

"At least it's clear to read," Daja commented.

"There's a lot we still don't know," said Tris, "so we should read through all of these before we go to that school."

"How much time've we got?"

"I think he said…seventeen days."

They contemplated the piles of books for a moment

"So…split it up?"

"I'll need to be free to make clothes…"

"I'll read more to make up for Sandry. They're not too bad compared to some of the books that Niko gives me"

In the end Briar took the books on plants and potions, Tris took history, astronomy and transfiguration, Daja started on the defensive magic and charms books and Sandry got to work.

**August 20****th**

Tris didn't know what goblins were, but they seemed to be very bloodthirsty.

In fact, most of the content of the book she was reading was devoted to them. There were countless rebellions and negotiations and battles mentioned. And yet for some reason, the wizards had apparently put them in charge of running their banks. Maybe there was another side to the whole thing.

She laid down on her bed and stretched out. So far, she had gotten through one of her books and was working on the second. While the goblin situation did not seem particularly relevant to them at the moment, she had at learned why people with magic lived separately from others. From flipping through a book of spells, they had determined that Wizard magic was much closer to academic magic then ambient; which would probably mean that there would be very little in the curriculum that they would actually be able to do. Still, there were some similarities that Tris found startling, such as the fact that female magic users in this world were also called witches. That had probably been why Dumbledore had looked surprised at dinner when Sandry had used the term 'stitch witch'.

She glanced at the others. The only reason that Briar had been able to keep studying for so long was because he was learning about new plants. She knew that the prospect of seeing them was his main motivation for going to the school. Tris could understand this; she would have balked by now if it wasn't for her interest in the ceiling of the Great Hall that she had read about. Briar was taking much longer with his book than she was with hers, but considering that little over a year and a half ago he wasn't even able to identify the letters she thought he was doing very well. Daja seemed a bit twitchy, and it occurred to Tris that her friend had not spent this much time away from a forge since she met Frostpine. Sandry sat in the corner, sewing together a robe for Briar and looking lost to the world.

Since they had gotten their school supplies, they had been going through them so much that they were currently spending most of their time in their room and had stopped eating with the rest of the house. When they needed a break, they told stories or meditated.

She briefly wondered if Niko missed her, but then jerked her thoughts away from that direction.

**August 23****rd**

There was something about sewing that Sandry always found to be both soothing and slightly hypnotizing. Lining up the stitches, pulling the tread through and watching whatever she was making take shape in her hands...

Her concentration was broken by a hand tattooed with a black X waving in front of her face.

"We're gonna get something to eat," Briar told her as she tried to get her bearings. "Take a break, Duchess. If you work anymore right now you'll start stitching your hands into that thing."

Sandry looked down at what she held. It was the grey skirt that she was making for Tris. They had decided that they should have something that would let them blend into the non-magical world in case of an emergency, so Sandry was trying to recreate the clothes that Dumbledore had disguised their robes as.

The others left the room, and Sandry surveyed the piles of what she had done so far; both in wizarding and Emlanese styles. She was almost finished the bases for the clothes. After that she would just have embroideries, charms, and hems left. Daja and Briar were starting growth spurts, and Sandry figured she should make outfits for them that she could let out later. Making completely new shoes was impossible since she didn't have the right material for it, but she was at least planning to fix up the old ones that they had been given. She knew that there was supposed to be a crest on the school robes, but she wasn't sure of exactly how it was supposed to look. Maybe she could borrow a robe from someone who was already a student there as a model...

As Sandry stretched, she spotted something white out of the corner of her eye. It was the toy dog that Remus had given Tris, perched on the table beside her bed. She got up and walked over to it. For a moment, she gently stroked its head and pretended it was Little Bear.

Sandry lips twisted into a small, bittersweet smile. When Tris had told her that all she had growing up were a few ragged, castoff dolls of her cousins' to play with, she had wanted to run to the city and buy her friend every toy she could find. But she had known that Tris wouldn't like it. After the redhead had grown up in a family that insisted she earn her keep, she hated feeling like a charity case. It had been hard enough to convince Tris to let Sandry and Lark make clothes for her (maybe 'convince' wasn't the right word, since they had taken away all of her old ones...). Having Sandry throw around her money to give her something that wasn't even a necessity would be more than she could take. That was what Sandry found most maddening about having Tris as a friend; she was determined to not owe anyone anything; not even the people that loved her most. Even worse was that while Tris held such strict rules with herself, she never kept track of or even counted the things that she did for them. She needed to learn to be spoiled, even if was by a stranger.

Abruptly, Sandry felt a rush of gratitude towards Remus. She knew that despite Tris's claims that the dog wasn't for her and her attempt at indifference over the whole thing, being given the dog had meant a lot to her. She thought of watching it through Tris's eyes and frowned when she remembered the merchant girl's observations about the man. He had looked so shabby and run down with his tired face and patched robes...

Sandry looked over at the piles of material that she wouldn't need to use for their clothes, and she had an idea.

When the others came back, she told her idea to Tris, but left out the key part of her motive. But she didn't need to use their bond to know that Tris had figured it out.

And when Tris looked away and mumbled "Do whatever you want," Sandry didn't need it to know that her friend was more eager than she would ever intentionally let on.

**August 25****th**

Tris had been missing for a little while.

They weren't really worried, since they knew she was still in the house, but while Sandry was working and Briar and Daja read she had abruptly gotten up and left the room. She was blocking herself off, so they weren't really sure what she was doing.

Briar felt her presence in the hallway only moments before she pushed open the door, walked straight to him, and pulled him out in the hallway. He didn't protest; his eyes were starting to hurt and his legs were cramping from sitting and staring at the pages for so long anyway.

Once they were out in the hall, he took a closer look and realized that Tris was holding her arm very stiffly at her side, and that the shape of her wrist through her sleeve was much bulkier than normal. She sat down against the wall, and he sat next to her. Wordlessly, she reached into her sleeve, pulled out the contents, and set them on his knee.

Briar looked down. She had given him a pair of daggers. Just by looking at him he could tell that they were very well crafted. He picked one up and balanced it on his finger. The weight was distributed perfectly.

"Where did you get these?"

_Remember they said they found knives with us when we got here? They put them back in with the other things we didn't take. I told them I wanted to look for something else and grabbed these without them noticing. I figured you'd feel better if you had them._

She was right. With a blade back in his hand, Briar suddenly felt more secure than he'd been since they woke up in this strange place.

"Thanks," he mumbled, feeling touched that she had thought of him. He tried to play it down, but he knew there was no fooling her. She shifted bit uncomfortably, and the hallway's dim lighting caused a glimmer of gold from something in her hand. Old habits made him focus on it instantly.

"What have you got?" he asked. She opened her hand instantly, looking glad for the distraction. Lying in her palm was a golden locket.

"I took this out of the box too," she explained. "We didn't notice it before, but I felt Daja's magic in it and thought I should give it to her."

Briar probed it and realized that Tris was right. They had all dismissed the locket when none of them had recognized it, but it felt like Daja had made it.

"Don't those things usually have pictures in them?" he asked as he shifted closer to get a better look. He set the daggers down on the floor beside him. "Who would Daja have a picture of, someone in her family?"

Tris shook her head. "She told me once that Traders don't bother having portraits done. Besides, if she had it for that long, we would have seen it by now. And she didn't pay it any attention either."

"Did you try to open it?"

"It has some kind of magic lock on it. It didn't feel right trying to force it open." They fell silent for a while, trying to think of possibilities.

"Think it has anything to do with those things we saw?" Briar said very softly.

She turned to look at him. "Why?"

"We're seeing things that never happened. Now we have something that we know belongs to Daja, but it ain't really hers."

Tris had no answer. They went quiet again, lost in thought. Briar glanced back at the daggers on the floor and realized uncomfortably that they were made in exactly the style he favoured.

"You gave him knives?"

They both turned to look at Sandry, standing in the doorway. She had apparently spotted the daggers on the floor, and she looked harried and ready to strangle Tris.

"If you were going to get them back, you should have done it days ago! Now I have to go over everything I made for him and work out a way he can carry them in robes without anyone noticing. As if I didn't already have enough to do!"

**August 29****th**

"I can't do this. I don't know anything about teaching."

"I still have some of my lesson plans from when I taught. Try using them as a base and changing things to fit what you want to teach. You've got the major points picked out already, so you're almost done."

"Thanks, Remus. But still, there are so many little things to go over. How do I get everything in?"

Uncertain of whether or not she should knock, Sandry stood outside the dining room door. She knew that he was in there, but unfortunately it sounded like a lot of other people were too. From where she was she could hear what they were saying, and it sounded like an important conversation.

"Surely you don't need to go over _everything_..."

"Don't be so sure of that. If I had actually gotten to teach last year I'd have gone over every spell I could. You never know what might be important to know until it's used against you..."

(_"You never mentioned it. None of you mentioned it to us."_)

(_"There was no reason to. None of you showed the least aptitude for it, Mila and Green Man be praised. Unmagic is so rare we never thought you'd encounter it."_)

"Are we actually doing this or can I put these down now?"

Sandry was snapped out of the trance she had fallen into by the sound of Daja's slightly muffled voice. She turned to look at her friend's eyes and forehead. It was all that she could see; the rest of Daja's face was hidden behind the stack of fabric that she was carrying. Sandry mumbled an apology and, still feeling a bit disoriented, knocked on the door.

The voices on the other side fell silent. After a moment, the door opened and Sandry found herself facing Sirius.

Sandry smiled politely and said, "Is Remus here? We have something for him."

From her position at the doorway she could see the heads of everyone around the table turn to Remus, who looked startled. He stood and walked over to the door. Despite the lack of an invitation, Sirius stepped out into the hall with him and closed the door, ignoring the exasperated look his friend gave him.

Sandry beamed up at Remus. "We wanted to thank you for what you did for Tris. She's not the type to show it, but it made her really happy."

Sirius glanced at Remus curiously. Sandry figured that he hadn't told anyone about the dog.

Ignoring Remus's statements that it was unnecessary to thank him, Sandry went on.

"We have something we wanted to give you," she said. On cue, Daja stepped forward and dropped her burden into Remus's arms.

The black-haired man reached over to the pile and lifted the top item: one of the brown robes she had made. Both men seemed to realize what exactly they had just given Remus at the same time.

"Where did you...how...?" Remus began, but he seemed at a bit of a loss for words.

Sandry smiled. "I made them."

"You..."

"I'm a thread mage, remember? Learning how to make things like this is part of my training." The two men were still looking slightly stunned, so she went on. "I'm making some things for my friends and me. I had material that we didn't need and I didn't want to just throw it away, and I thought you might need some new clothes."

Sirius dug through the pile. "There's even muggle clothes in here."

"Did I get those right?" Sandry asked, feeling slightly uncertain. She had tried to copy some of the clothes she had seen men in the restaurant wearing, but she wasn't sure if she had made a mistake or even if the men were wearing the right styles. She had made two of those outfits, and she had gotten the impression that one was much more casual than the other. "And I just guessed at the size too. If they don't fit just give them back to me and I can adjust them."

"These are fine," Remus reassured her hurriedly. "But...I couldn't possibly accept this..."

Sandry pouted slightly. "But I already made them," she said, "and they won't fit any of us. If you don't take them, then all the work I put into them and the material I used will just go to waste."

"Well...of course I wouldn't want–"

"Good!" she said brightly, and then she headed back upstairs, leaving the two men standing flabbergasted behind her. She knew that she had won.

"I would just take them if I were you," Sandry heard Daja saying. "You'll offend her if you don't. Besides, once she gets like that, you don't really have a choice"

**August 31****st**

"I was almost done packing that!" Briar protested as Sandry almost upended his trunk and spread the contents across the floor. "Cut it out!"

"I'm sure I forgot something," Sandry informed him as she dug through his clothes and muttered a checklist. She turned to Daja's trunk and started going through it too. "And I just used your measurements for some things instead of actually getting you to try it on. Half of what I made probably doesn't fit properly."

"I'm not about to get all weepy just 'cause my shirt doesn't fit perfect," said Briar under his breath. Sandry ignored him.

"I need more time!" Sandry cried, standing up. "And where's Tris anyway? I still have to finish adjusting one of her robes!"

"Off reading somewhere. I'll go find her," said Briar, conveniently 'forgetting' that they could have called the weather witch without leaving the room as he sprinted into the hall; leaving Daja to deal with the noble girl bordering on a panic attack.

Daja sighed internally, made a mental note to ask those twins for something to slip into the boy's next meal, and grabbed Sandry's shoulders. She turned her friend around to face her.

"We'll be fine," she told Sandry sternly. "You can fix Tris's robe with plenty of time to spare before we go to bed, and I know everything else you made already fits perfectly. If that changes then you can just alter it later. They gave us everything else, so if we're missing something we need for classes it's their fault, not ours. Tris, Briar and I went through all of the material between us, and we made notes on the books for you to look at. Any other problems…we'll figure out when we get there."

Sandry took a deep breath, and for a moment Daja thought she was going to yell again. Instead, she exhaled and gave a small, apologetic smile.

"Sorry," she said, "I've just been working so hard the last few days to get everything done it that doesn't feel like I can relax yet."

Tris came into the room alone, a book tucked under her arm. She blinked at the chaotic mess that Sandry had caused.

_When Briar said she was fussing, I didn't think it was _this _bad, _she told Daja privately.

_I just got her calmed down. Where is he?_

_He's getting food. There's a party going on downstairs; something about prefects. _

**September 1****st**

Despite Daja's attempt at reassurance, they all had difficulty sleeping that night. It was almost dawn by the time they all drifted off.

A few hours later, they were woken up by a knock at the door. Briar staggered up and got it open to find the stern-looking woman that had brought their things.

"I'm here to bring you to the school," she informed him. "Are you almost ready to go?"

Briar mumbled something unintelligible and closed the door.

Sleepy and disoriented, they four of them scrambled to get changed and finish packing by cramming things into their trunks. They grabbed the first things at hand to put on. Once they were more or less fully clothed and all of their belongings were in _a _trunk (if not, perhaps, the correct one), they paused for a moment to catch their breath and take stock of everything.

"I think I'm wearing Briar's socks," Sandry said suddenly, glancing down at her feet.

"We can deal with that later," said Daja. "Do we have everything packed?"

"I think so," Tris answered. Then she started. She ran over to the table beside her bed, pulled something out and hurried back over to the others.

"I kept forgetting to give this to you," she said to Daja as she pushed the locket into her hand. Daja looked it blankly.

"I found it in the things we had with us when we came here," Tris said. "It has your magic in it."

Daja stared at the locket. Now that she thought about it, it did seem familiar, but she couldn't think of where she knew it from. She was about to ask Tris if she knew anything else about it when the woman knocked on the door again and called, "Are you ready?"

Daja quickly stuffed it into her pocket and went to open the door.

"Now then," the woman said once they were all assembled in the hallway. "You can leave your luggage here, and it will be brought to the castle later. The other students will be arriving this evening, but considering the circumstances we thought it best that you arrived separately. We will be using most of the day to explain the precautions we will be taking with you and the kind of curriculum that you will have. Tonight, you will be sorted into one of the school's four houses, just as all new students are. During your time at Hogwarts, your house will be like your families."

_I doubt it,_ said Tris. Sandry mentally shushed her.

"I have not properly introduced myself yet. I am Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress as well as transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. Since we want you to spend as little time as possible out in the open, we will be apparating to just outside the castle grounds, where we will be escorted to the castle by other teachers."

None of them were thrilled about having to apparate again, but they grabbed the arm she held out without complaint (at least, without complaint that _she _could hear). Once again, they felt themselves being tightly squeezed and pulled to another place.

_TBC_

…**..**

**The flashback dialogue in this chapter was taken directly from **_**Magic Steps. **_

**Malacoda:**** Thank you! I had to use these chapters to establish other things, so there was only one flashback. Don't worry though; I'm going to drop a memory-bombshell on one of the circle in the next chapter (you may be able to guess who it will be based on this one).**

**Avatar of Wurms:**** You're right about Harry and Tris; they have a lot more in common than either of them realize.**

**Sorry you had to wait more than six hours…**

**And yes, Briar **_**is **_**awesome :D**

**Mistmantle****: Don't cry! **

**And thanks. I'm really trying to keep everyone in character, so it's nice to hear that I'm doing a good job at it.**

**Kitten Spirit****: Thanks! More changes to come…**

**Thanks also to ****Shadepelt****, ****Lady Blue Phoenix****, and ****Shana**

**I'm honestly shocked at how many people have favorited this story…**


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter has the sorting scene in it. I wasn't entirely sure if everyone would agree with my choices, so I put an explanation in at the end. Please actually read the chapter before skipping down to it. **

**The flashback text in this chapter comes directly from ****Will of the Empress.**

**Chloe Loves Pie****: Sorry this took so long. I'm in second year university, so once classes started things got crazy really fast. Happy pre-birthday!**

**Malacoda****: If you haven't read past the fourth book, I recommend looking up summaries of the last three, because I've been referencing a lot from the fifth book and there will be spoilers for six and seven. Your eagerly anticipated memory-bomb is in this chapter, but some of the results will be in the next. Thanks for the review!**

**ElementalStarRanger****: As I mentioned in the first chapter, the story takes place during ****Order of the Phoenix**** and post ****Will of the Empress****. The Circle are kids again because when they were pulled over to the HP world, the stress on their bodies plus the magic swirling around de-aged them. The flashes that they get are them remembering some of their adult memories. **

**Avatar of Wurms****: Lol, my story is officially better than lasagna.**

**And I'm getting the sense that someone doesn't like Malfoy...**

**Stormrider7****: There wasn't really any huge significance to the way that Briar was looking at Harry. It's just how I figured he would react in a situation like that. After reading that Briar was jealous of Amery in ****Tris' Book**** and the way that he seemed hostile to Rizu in ****Will of the Empress**** when she was going to eat with them I realized something; Briar doesn't like sharing. **

**It only really seems to apply when he feels that someone is interfering with his bond to the girls, but at that point in my story he was already on edge. They are in a strange place with strange people and no idea how they got there. They need to stay united more than ever, and Harry already got both Sandry and Tris to confide in him. It was also a bit of a reminder that the Circle still isn't really opening up to the wizards yet.**

**PerpetualLurker****: Thanks! My story has a bit of a weird concept, so it's good to know that I'm pulling it off ok. **

**ShyShard****: Thank you! (and you're welcome...)**

**On another note, I've been working on the first chapter of the Circle-Raises-Harry story I talked about, and it should hopefully be posted soon**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

**...**

**September 1****st****, Morning**

Harry couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief when he finally made it out the door that morning. Between the twin's attempts to speed up the process by using magic, coming downstairs to find himself in a sea of trunks that for some reason seemed much greater than the normal amount, waiting for the mages to come say goodbye to them and wondering where they were, learning that he apparently needed a guard to get to the station, and Moody's grumbling about Podmore not showing up when they were 'already one short' Harry had felt like they would never make it to the station.

An excited bark made him look up, and he laughed at the sight of Sirius chasing his tail. Apparently faced with a lack of guards, the Order had finally agreed to let him out of the house for a while. As they walked to the station Harry stole another glance at his other guard.

It would have felt strange enough to see Lupin in muggle clothes, but seeing him in muggle clothes that were in as good of a condition as the robes he was wearing at the party was startling. He looked…younger.

As they walked, Harry found himself wondering if it was really just the clothes that made his former professor look so different. He still seemed tired, but the bags under his eyes were lighter and his face was less grey than Harry had ever seen it.

Then Sirius scattered a flock of pigeons, and Harry decided that it would probably be rude to ask.

**Hogwarts Castle, Evening**

"That's odd," said Hermione, staring at the front of the hall.

Harry agreed, but he wasn't sure if she was referring to the fact that Professor Grubbly-Plank was back and sitting in Hagrid's usual seat, the Defence teacher's seat being empty, or that McGonagall was still holding the Sorting Hat even though 'Zeller, Rose' had already hurried to the Hufflepuff table and there was no one else waiting to be sorted. A low murmur started up among the students and died down when Dumbledore got to his feet.

"As you are all probably beginning to suspect," he said, "I have some important announcements to make."

Taking a quick look around the room, Harry suddenly noticed Luna Lovegood, the girl he'd met on the train, sitting at the Ravenclaw table. She still had the _Quibbler_ open in front of her, but she was lowering it to get a better look at Dumbledore, and her face looked unusually (or at least, what he judged to be unusual for her) serious. In all honesty, he was surprised that had never noticed her before, especially with the butterbeer cork necklace.

"First off," Dumbledore continued, "most of you are likely aware that we appear to be missing a Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. I would like to reassure you that this is nothing to be concerned over. Our professor simply had other things that needed to be attended to tonight, and will be present in class tomorrow. Secondly, I would like to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank," the woman stood briefly, "who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures while our Professor Hagrid is away on other business"

Harry felt a little alarmed. What other business could Hagrid possibly have?

"Finally," said Dumbledore, "Hogwarts will be hosting some very unique guests this year. Their home country is...very far from here, and they have a kind of magic that none of you have ever seen before. We do not know for sure how long they will be with us, but I hope that in that time you will all do what you can to make them feel welcome."

He spread his arm and gestured to the back of the Hall.

**Hogwarts corridor, 15 minutes earlier**

For the fifth time that day, Tris jumped as a ghost suddenly popped out of the wall.

_I am never going to get used to that,_ she informed the others.

Just before the other students had started to arrive, they had been told to wait outside the Great Hall until they were introduced. Madam Pomphrey, the school nurse, waited with them. They weren't sure if this was to give them extra instruction or to make sure that they didn't bolt, but they found themselves liking the woman; if she was bothered at all by the four unnaturally silent children with mysterious powers, she didn't show it.

Sandry peered around the open door. _I didn't think that there would be so many people here! _she exclaimed at the sight of the full house tables.

Tris went over to the door to see for herself, and found herself feeling abruptly nauseous as she looked at the chattering students. Until now, she had been able to think of going to school as more of a concept than a reality, but now she couldn't distance herself from it anymore. Despite reading the books, making sure she had the supplies that she needed, and learning how her classes were supposed to work she suddenly felt horribly unprepared. This was starting to remind her a lot of the temple that Niko had found her at and living in the Winding Circle dormitories before going to Discipline.

Neither had gone well.

Before, it hadn't really mattered if she was rejected, because she didn't really have anything that she was leaving behind.

Sensing that Tris was getting worried, Briar reached out and touched her hand.

_You okay? _he asked.

She looked back at him, took a deep breath, and slowly nodded. _I will be._

_So, you read the books on the school, _said Daja, trying to distract her. She waved her hand towards the charmed ceiling of the Great Hall. _Why isn't there a roof in there?_

_There is, _Tris answered, calming down a bit now that she had a book to recite. _It just looks like the sky._

_Is that hat _singing_? _said Briar. The others were too distracted by what Tris was saying to notice.

_...some kind of charm, but I don't know what it is. I've been trying to figure out whatever I can about it. I want to see if Niko can do that to the ceiling of my bedroom–_

_There's a singing hat!_

This time, Briar managed to get the girls' attention. The four of them peered together around the doorway and looked in astonishment as the hat singing cheerfully at the front of the room.

_The Sorting Hat, _explained Tris. _I read about it in one of the books I read. Apparently it belonged to one of the founders, and they use it to figure out what house new students should be in. _She stared at the hat again. _But I didn't know it _sang_!_

_Can _you_ make a singing hat?_ Briar asked Sandry.

_Why would I ever need to?_

_How does a hat sort anything? _Daja asked.

_Watch, _said Tris, and the four of them saw a brown-haired boy step nervously from the group and walk to the hat, which had apparently finished its song. Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and set it on the boy's head once he was settled on the stool. There was a moment of silence, and then the hat opened its mouth(?) again to cry "Griffindor!"

_That's one of the Houses, right?_ Sandry asked Tris.

The weather witch nodded. _Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff. They all have different qualities, and the hat is supposed to look into the student's minds and figure out which house they fit into the best._

_Wait, _said Briar, startled. _You mean that thing is going to take a peek around in our heads?_

Mutinously, Briar immediately began throwing up as many mental barriers as he could.

They watched the rest of the sorting and Dumbledore's speech in silence, staying where they were until Madame Pomphrey told them quietly "You're on" and ushered them into the room.

...

Harry watched, stunned, as the four mages came down the aisle and stopped together in front of the stool. People in the hall started chattering curiously again.

"Chandler, Tris!" McGonagall called over the noise. Everyone fell silent to watch.

Tris was looking a little alarmed at being called on first and glanced around at her friends. Briar squeezed her shoulder slightly, and Daja and Sandry lightly nudged her forward. Tris went to the stool and the hat was placed on her head. There was silence for about thirty seconds. And then…

"Ravenclaw!"

The Ravenclaw table started to cheer, and Harry clapped along with them, still not entirely over his shock at seeing them at Hogwarts. He thought of the focused look he had seen on her face while she was reading last night, and figured that Ravenclaw made sense for her. Tris took off the Hat and walked to the Ravenclaw table, looking flushed and not sure how to respond to the applause. She sat next to Luna Lovegood, who Harry noticed had an unusually large amount of room on the bench.

"Fa Toren, Sandrilene!"

Sandry went up more assertively than her friend had. She sat on the stool, and the Hat was on her head for less than a second when it cried, "Griffindor!"

The Griffindor table gave her an even warmer round of applause than the Ravenclaws had given Tris, but Harry saw her glance wistfully at the table where her friend sat. Sandry seemed to perk back up a bit when she saw that all of the Hogwarts students she had met at Grimmauld place were Griffindors. She sat beside Harry.

"Kisubo, Daja!"

Daja walked forward, leaving Briar standing on his own. It took her longer than the others; it was a few minutes before the Hat made a decision.

"Hufflepuff!"

The Hufflepuff table was ecstatic. Clearly, they had not been expecting to get any of the school's strange new guests. They cleared a spot for her as she came to sit down. Next to Harry, Sandry sighed, clearly disappointed again.

"Moss, Briar!"

As Briar walked up to the hat, people began whisper amongst themselves. Some had noticed the pattern, and were already suspecting what was about to happen.

Briar pulled on the hat (while not looking happy about it). He sat there for as long as Daja had while the room watched with bated breath, until finally the Sorting Hat opened its brim of a mouth to speak.

"Slytherin!"

…

It may have just been Briar's imagination, but his reception seemed to be a bit different from what the girls had gotten.

He had been so relieved to get away from the hat that murmured in his mind about cunning and courage and intelligence that he didn't even notice it until he was almost at his table. They were still clapping for him, but there was something other than the simple enthusiasm and interest from the other tables. There was speculation in their faces, and a kind of dark excitement in some that made him involuntarily press his arms against his sides to feel that his knives were still in their wrist-sheaths. He sat down gingerly in an empty spot on the bench.

It wasn't just his own table. Most of the students in the hall were having some kind of reaction. Up at the head table, Dumbledore's eyes were flickering between intensely between each table to look at them. The only person in the hall who looked completely uninterested was the blond girl sitting next to Tris, who was humming to herself and looking dreamily at the star-filled ceiling.

_What's that about?_ asked Daja.

Tris shrugged. _I read that Griffindor and Slytherin are rivals, but I don't know what's bothering everyone else._

Briar was momentarily distracted by the appearance of the banquet, but started feeling too self conscious to eat normally when he noticed that a group of the Slytherins (led by a blond boy who's face reminded Briar of a ferret for some reason) kept glancing over at him while talking to each other in low voices. No one was really trying to talk to Tris, but she got the sense that it had more to do with the person she was sitting beside and she didn't really want to talk anyway. Daja was talking to someone who claimed to be a prefect and was going over things that they had already learned that afternoon. Sandry was just listening to the conversation at her table when she realized that people were looking at her too.

No. Not at her, but at Harry. People were looking over to him with both curiosity and suspicion. She looked at him from the corner of her vision and saw that he noticed too, and was looking even more self-conscious than Briar.

It was at that moment that the room lit up.

No one else at the table seemed to notice, but Sandry jumped and knocked her drink off the table. From across the room, she saw Briar start to rub his eyes.

_What did you _do_?_ Daja snapped at Tris.

All of the other students and teachers were now glowing.

_Sorry, _said Tris. _I've been trying to figure out how to see their magic for a little while, and I just got it. I didn't think of it spreading to you three again._

Sandry squinted as she dropped her napkin over the spreading puddle of her drink on the floor. The magic of the wizards manifested in an odd pearly sheen that she had never seen before. Most of them were bright, but some had dark smudges. She glanced up at the head table and saw that Dumbledore gave off more light than anyone else

Suddenly, there was a touch on her shoulder. She looked around and saw Harry looking at her in concern. He had noticed her reaction.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Sandry opened her mouth to reassure him, but then got a better look at him and completely forgot what she had been planning to say.

Harry's glow, although a bit brighter than that of most of the others at the table, did not in itself look all that unusual. But starting at his body and leading across the room and through the room was a rope. It was a sickly green, and to Sandry it looked like it was trying to ooze into the rest of Harry's otherwise pearly aura.

_Can you see that rope?_ she asked the others, directing their attention to it.

They could, sort of.

_Looks like a rusty chain to me, _said Daja.

Briar used Sandry's eyes to get a better look at it. He saw a vine that was starting to rot.

_Whatever it is, _said Briar, _it doesn't look healthy. If I saw something like that in a garden I wouldn't even try to fix it. I'd just try to get rid of whatever plant it was on before it spread. _

_I hope that you're not using Harry as the diseased plant in that analogy, _Tris told him sternly.

While unaware of their conversation, Harry was nevertheless beginning to feel increasingly concerned and more than a bit awkward. Sandry was taking a very long time to answer his question. She was staring at him – or rather, something over his shoulder – with her eyes slightly glazed and her mouth still hanging open. He looked uncertainly behind him, trying to follow her gaze.

Sandry noticed, and quickly closed her mouth. She smiled warmly at him.

"Sorry," she said. "The castle is incredible. It's a lot to take in."

_Should I say something to him about it? _she asked the others.

_Let's wait, _said Tris. _We don't really know anything about it besides that it's there and it's not good. He probably knows about it. There must be some signs for something like that. _

Sandry suddenly remembered the look on Harry's face when she had mentioned mage bonds.

_See? Let's just watch it for now._

"I know what you mean," said Harry. "I'm still trying to get used to all of this myself."

...

Sandry was walking next to Harry as they left the Great Hall, but somewhere along the way she got swept up in the group of nervous first years who were following after Ron and Hermione. She looked a bit calmer than the others and had started talking to a black-haired girl. Seeing the way that they all grouped together made Harry wonder if he had looked like that on his first day.

After they had all made it through the portrait and the first-years were directed to their new rooms, Harry, Ron, and Hermione took the chairs by the fireplace.

"Did either of you know that they were coming to the school?" Harry asked.

"No," Ron said, sounding a bit grumpy. I'm writing home first thing tomorrow to find out why no one told us."

"I can't believe they're all in different Houses," said Harry. "They seem so close, you'd think they'd have more in common."

For a few seconds, Hermione looked troubled. Then her face brightened and she said "At least we got Sandry."

"Too bad we lost Briar though," said Ron. "I mean, Daja and Tris did alright, but Slytherin…"

Hermione opened her mouth, likely planning to scold Ron, but she didn't get the chance. Before she could speak, another voice cut in.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

For an instant, all three of them froze as Sandry made her presence known. Then they turned as one to look at her.

She was standing several feet behind Hermione's chair. Her bright blue eyes were narrowed slightly, and her mouth had tightened. Despite the level tone she had used, her body was tense and trembling slightly.

"'Lost Briar'," she repeated, her gaze fixed on Ron. "What's that supposed to mean?"

With his ears going red both at being overheard and at her intensity, Ron scrambled to justify what he had said.

"W-well," he stammered, "I just…you can't trust Slytherins. They fight dirty. Most of them are spoiled gits from rich pureblood families who think that kids whose parents aren't wizards shouldn't be allowed into Hogwarts. And," he lowered his voice, "most of the Death Eaters were in Slytherin, and a lot of them have kids there now. You shouldn't hang out with someone like–"

While he had been talking, Ron had failed to notice that Hermione was frantically gesturing for him to stop talking or that he was just making Sandry angrier. He had finally shut up when Harry had kicked him, but by then the damage was already done.

"If you understood anything about where Briar comes from or what he's go through, you wouldn't even have thought of half of what you just said," she said coldly. "You've barely even talked to him, and you think that just because you have problems with some of the people in his house you know all that you need to? We know him better than you or that hat ever could, and he's not leaving us!"

Something about the way that Sandry was using "we" and "us" seemed strange to Harry. She was obviously referring to herself and her friends, but it somehow the two words held a much greater weight when she spoke them. As if to her, "us" was a fact of life.

"And if Briar has taught me anything," she added haughtily, "it's that just because a person can fight dirty, it doesn't mean that they can't be trusted!"

She spun around and marched out of the now silent common room.

...

_We need to talk, _she snapped at the others. _And I don't care what it's interrupting._

Like her, Briar and Tris were sitting on their beds in their bedclothes with the curtains pulled closed around them. Tris had retreated due to the combination of not knowing how to socialize with the groups gathering in the common room and a reluctance that came from past experiences to attempt it. The people that Briar had noticed glancing at him in the Great Hall had looked to be on the verge of approaching him once they reached their common room, so Briar had decided to make himself scarce until he had a better idea of what they wanted. Daja was the only one actually talking to someone: a blond haired first year girl who had introduced herself as 'Sarah' and started nervously chattering to her. At Sandry's tone, Daja excused herself and drew her own curtains, claiming that she needed to get to sleep.

_What's wrong?_ she asked, and Sandry told them what had happened with Ron.

_We knew that we wouldn't be staying in the same room or eating together if we were sorted into different houses, _she said once she had gone over what she had been told, _and we read that Gryffindor and Slytherin were rivals, but I never thought that it would be like this. I never thought that anyone would think that I shouldn't be friends with Briar just because of what some hat said._

They stayed silent for a little while after she stopped talking. She thought at they were thinking, but she quickly became aware that the silence was expectant.

_...And?_ said Daja. _Are you going to listen to them?_

_Of course I'm not!_

_Then what's the problem? We already know all of Briar's bad points, and he balances them out. _

_At least I know what they want to talk to me about now, _said Briar thoughtfully.

_Since when does it matter to you what other people think, anyway? _Tris said. _It's not the first time that someone has thought you shouldn't be friends with us, what with you being a noble and us being common folk. You always go out of your way to make a point of not caring when that happens, so why should this be any different?_

_You were right, _Briar added. _I'm not going anywhere as long as you aren't. Their Houses don't have anything on our Circle. And if they try to split us up, we'll just leave._

Briar's last statement made her smile. Even though they both knew that they didn't really have anywhere better to go, it was still good to hear him say it.

_Come to think of it, _Daja said slowly, _why did this bother you so much?_

Sandry started to explain herself…before she realized that she had no explanation to give. Why _was _it bothering her so much? It was only natural that she would get angry if someone insulted Briar, but why had she felt so _worried_?

She thought about it for a minute while the others waited patiently. Finally, the answer drifted up from the depths of her mind.

_I just got you three back, _she told them. _I don't want to lose you again._

The comfortable silence that followed lasted until they all processed what she had said.

_Wait, what?_ asked Daja.

_The only time any of us have been really apart was when Briar was under quarantine, _said Tris, _and even then we could still talk to him._

Sandry frowned, suddenly feeling like she had just missed something huge. _Sorry, _she said. _I don't know where that just came from..._

Daja let it go, but Briar and Tris started chasing the origin of her words in her thoughts with sudden focus that startled her.

_It's happening to you to, isn't it! _Briar exclaimed

_What's happening? _asked Daja.

_She's seeing things too!_

He and Tris quickly filled them in on all of the things that they had seen and heard, but weren't real.

_I'm not –_ Sandry started, but then she remembered hearing Lark's voice the other night. She had brushed it off as a daydream, but was it really?

_See? _said Tris. Then she flopped back on the bed.

_Why is this _happening _to us? _ the redhead groaned.

_We don't even know if this means anything yet– _

_Not just... whatever it is we're seeing. I mean all of it! Why are we here? Why are we getting stuck in the middle of _their_ war?_

_I don't know, _said Daja. _I don't know I don't know _why _we're here, but it looks like we're stuck for now, so we should just try to make the best of it._

_Easy for you to say, _retorted Briar. You _haven't seen anything. _

_She will, _said Tris, who had pulled her pillow over her face. _If anything strange happens to one of us, then it affects all of us. It's only a matter of time before she starts hallucinating too._

_So, then what do you suggest we do? _Daja snapped.

Sandry closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them to stare at the glowing stone lying on the bed in front of her.

_We stick together and try to figure it out as we go, _she said. _Just like we always do._

...

On their first morning in Hogwarts, most of the new students left for breakfast early, trying to give themselves as much time as possible to find their way back to the Great Hall in the massive, confusing castle. However, unlike the other girls in Sandry's room, she had not only been aware of this problem, but had also prepared for it. While she and Daja had asked Tris about the castle's design, she had come up with an idea. As Sandry had walked to the dorms with the other Gryffindors the night before, she had started to trail a thread of her power behind her. It was still there now, glowing brightly in her mind's eye.

So when the other girls left, Sandry knew that she would be able to get to the Great Hall on her own with plenty of time to spare. She had considered going with them when they had invited her, but she didn't feel quite ready to socialize after her conversation with her friends last night.

She waited for about fifteen minutes after the others had left before deciding that she shouldn't push her luck and gathering up her books for the morning. At the bottom of the staircase, she halted in surprise.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione were standing in the common room. They looked up when they heard the noise on the stairs, and once they saw that it was Sandry they walked over and stopped in front of her. They all looked a bit awkward, and Ron's ears were turning red again.

"Er, about last night," he began. "What we said – what I said," he corrected hurriedly as Hermione glared at him, "was out of line, and I wanted to say sorry. If Briar's that important to you, then I'm sure he's alright, Slytherin or not."

They – and a few others standing nearby – were looking at her as if they were waiting for her to explode, which didn't really help the mounting embarrassment that she had been feeling over her outburst that she had been feeling since she got up. Since they had decided to apologize first (and also to give Briar a chance), she decided to take the gracious way out.

"It's, alright," she told them, and saw their surprise at the small smile she gave them. "I overreacted. I don't really know much about Slytherins, but I know that you'll like Briar once you get to know him."

That wasn't just being polite. Now that she'd calmed down and understood that there had been something else making her upset, she realized that she _had _overreacted.

Even though they had realized that they had yet another problem to deal with, talking things out with her friends last night had eased some of the stress that they had all been feeling since they got there. She felt more relaxed now, and ready to deal with whatever would come next.

"You already know what classes you have this morning?" asked Harry, who had been looking for a change of topic. He gestured at the bulging book bag Sandry had slung over her shoulder. "We usually don't get our schedules 'till our first morning here."

"I wasn't sure what to bring, so I just took what I could carry," she explained, setting the bag that had started cutting into her shoulder on the floor.

"You can come back up for what you need once you find out," said Hermione. She looked thoughtful for a moment, and then asked, "Speaking of classes, what are you going to be studying? Can you use our magic?" When she saw Sandry glance uncertainly at the door, she added, "Don't worry, we still have plenty of time to get to the Great Hall. The castle is really confusing at first, but we can show you how to get there."

"I don't think that we can use your magic, so we're mostly going to be looking at theory..."

...

Like Sandry, Daja had decided to wait until the other girls in her room had left before leaving herself. She was trying to pass a bit of time sorting some of her things that had been haphazardly tossed into the trunk the morning before. While hunting through, she found one of Tris's books, a single shoe of Sandry's, and a small, decorative silver snake with emerald eyes that she thought had been sitting on a shelf in their room. She felt fairly certain that they weren't supposed to take it. At least it had ended up in her trunk instead of Briar's; she would give it back, but Briar would have probably tried to sell it off to the highest bidder once they got home.

Daja set the snake on the bed and picked up the robe she had worn the day before. As she folded it, something slipped out of the pocket and clunked as it landed on the ground. Startled, she bent to pick it up. It was the locket that Tris had given her just before they had been whisked off to Hogwarts. The sorting had made her forget about it.

Tris had been right about her power being in it. It was copper, and larger than most lockets, and part of her _knew _that she had made it this way to hold something. She turned it around looked at the clasp.

There was some kind of charm on it, but the clasp fell open at a simple prod from her power. She once again felt that inexplicable knowledge, this time telling her that the clasp wouldn't have opened that easily for anyone but her.

For a long moment, Daja simply stared at it. There were two warring voices inside her. One was telling her that she was better off not knowing what was inside, that to see it would only bring her pain. But another voice told her that she needed it. That part of her wanted to remember.

She took a deep breath and opened the locket.

For a moment, it was just a portrait; a portrait of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. Her lips were full, her eyes were big and dark, and her hair fell in brown curls around her shoulders. Then something in Daja shifted, and she realized that she knew that woman.

_(When she saw that Daja was looking at her, she smiled. Her eyes were filled with so much merriment that Daja simply had to smile back. Who is she? the girl wondered. She has to be the most beautiful woman of the empress's court.)_

The locket slipped from Daja's hand and snapped closed as it hit the ground, but it was like a dam had burst in her mind. Her vision was taken over by things she had never seen, and as the sounds and images poured through her she unconsciously sank to her knees. Was this what her friends had been talking about last night? If they had all felt it too, then how were they still acting normally? It felt like her whole world was rearranging itself.

_("My goodness..." She looked at Daja's brass-wrapped hand. "Is that jewelery?"_

"_Not exactly," Daja replied. She offered the hand for Rizu's inspection and turned it over so the other woman could see the brass on her palm. As Rizu inspected her hand, Daja felt warmth start under her skin where Rizu touched her. It fizzed up into her arm, making Daja feel both odd and pleased at the same time.)_

Daja could feel that warmth was spreading up her real arm and into her chest along the same path it followed on her phantom body. Dimly, she realized that there was something wrong with the image of her hand next to the woman's, but then the pounding of her heart seemed to drive all other thought away.

_("Oh," said Daja when she remembered how to talk. She felt as if the sun had just been catapulted into her mind. Dazzled with what it showed her, she realized also, Rizu's afraid. She's had enough people tell her no that she's not sure..._

_Strictly to make Rizu feel better, certainly not because she wanted more of that sunlight spilling into her heart and mind, Daja leaned over and kissed Rizu's mouth all on her own)_

The sudden surge of emotion that tore through her then was strong enough for even her friends to feel. She was abruptly aware of them. Briar dropped his fork with a clatter in the Great Hall. Tris stopped dead in her tracks in the middle of the hallway. Sandry cut off mid-sentence and almost fell off her chair in the Gryffindor common room. For a moment they were an anchor, and she tried to hold on to them with all of her strength. But a surge of flashes that made her gasp and her friends watch dumfounded swept her away again. After what felt like an eternity, she settled again, this time on the woman's concerned face.

_("It's Her Imperial Majesty," Rizu explained softly. "Something's happened, something that's made her angry. She treated me alright, so it wasn't anything to do with me, but when I asked her what was going on, she said that I ought to ask _your_ friends.")_

What was wrong? she wondered. She didn't like seeing the woman look so upset.

_(Daja looked into the bedroom. It was neatly made up. There were no signs of packing. She went in and sat on the bed, smoothing wrinkles out of the airy coverlet with fingers that shook as much as Rizu's mouth had. _

"_You could stay." Rizu had come to stand in the doorway. "Stay here, with me. Be a jewel in the imperial crown. All your work with living metal would earn you a place among the great mages. I want you to stay. I _need _you to stay")_

Why did they even need to talk about it? How could she ever walk away from something, some_one_ like that? But something was wrong. Somehow, that perfect answer just wasn't there.

_("Why won't you come with me?" Daja asked, her voice cracking.)_

And as she heard her own words echoing in her mind, she suddenly understood why she couldn't give the woman what she had wanted. She knew then that it was hopeless.

Whatever it was that had possessed her was gone. She was left kneeling on the floor, frozen and stunned.

The others were still there, unsure of what to do.

_Daja?_ Sandry called uncertainly.

Sandry's voice got her mind moving again, and she started to tremble as she tried to process what had just happened to her.

She buried her face in her hands and screamed.

_TBC_

_**...**_

**Okay, I know that some people might not be happy with where I put Briar (and maybe Daja, if you don't think Hufflepuffs are good for much), so I want to explain my choices. **

**Briar: The main characteristics of Slytherins are that they are ****ambitious, cunning, and have a strong sense of self-preservation. Also, Harry was considered for Slytherin because he had cleverness, resourcefulness, determination, and a willingness to bend the rules****. While growing up in the middle of gang warfare, Briar developed all of these traits and demonstrates them throughout the series. In the first book, he decides to run rather than stand up for himself when Crane decides that he is spying for Rosethorn and pulls a knife on the boys in his dorm when they go after him. In the second, he is the only person to suspect Ammery, goes through his things to confirm his suspicions, and then tries to kill him before he can open the gate. In the third, he disagrees with Sandry when she says that she doesn't see the point to having magic if she can't help others with it (showing that he isn't that big on self-sacrifice). Even in "Street Magic" Briar doesn't seem to mind scaring people a bit (or killing them) if they come after him or someone he cares about. However, I think that Briar's desire for power is different than Malfoy's or Voldemort's. He doesn't target people that are weaker than him without an actual reason, but he always makes sure that he has as many weapons as possible and will at least threaten someone with them if they bother him. To me, this shows that for him it's not about feeling powerful, but about making sure that he is never powerless again (especially after having to fight to survive as a child and failing to save Flick). He is also in a transition at his current age; if I had been sorting Roach I would have put him into Slytherin right away, but I'm not sure where I would have put the adult Briar. The hat took a while sorting him because other characteristics developed in him after going to Winding Circle. (And don't worry Avatar of Wurms, just because he's Slytherin doesn't mean that he's going to like Malfoy)**

**Sandry: Umm... if you didn't get this one, you may need to re-read the first quartet...**

**Tris: Considering the fact that she almost constantly has a book on the go throughout the series, I don't think there is really much more explanation needed than there was for Sandry**

**Daja: Daja is the most stable person in the group. I think that her most important qualities are her practicality and her strength. Hufflepuffs are supposed to be ****hard-working, friendly, loyal, and non-judgmental****. In addition, she doesn't embody the qualities of the other houses like the others do. She's not an idiot, but she isn't as into book learning as Tris. She's not a coward, but she isn't recklessly brave like Sandry. And unlike Briar, Daja is more likely to confront a problem head on than use cunning. **

**And yes. Umbridge isn't at Hogwarts. I figured that if she was, one of the Circle (probably Sandry) would quickly get detention, then the other three would want revenge after Sandry's hand got carved up by that quill thing that Umbridge uses. Umbridge would respond to whatever they did, a cycle would be created and the castle would be reduced to rubble in days. I'm sorry to say that she will still be playing a role in the story though; she's just too nasty to go to waste. **

**I'm considering doing the Circle's first impressions of Hogwarts as a bonus chapter sometime...**

**...**

**...Did you know that if Voldemort had been really determined about using the anagram thing for his name, he could have also been ****Mermaid Drool Volt, Earldom Lord Vomit,** **Tidal Overlord Mom, Doormat Mild Lover, Immoral Roved Dolt, Immortal Dove Lord and Moral Vomited Lord? (generated with internet anagram thingy)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sooo...yeah I'm still alive.**

**I am really sorry about how long this took. I got really busy with school stuff, and I kind of got writer's block for some parts, and then it ended up being waaaay longer than I expected it to be (I had to split the chapter in two again. I felt like I needed to do justice to the circle's first day at Hogwarts), and then I almost had it ready but there was a problem with my computer and I lost some of it O.o...**

**On the plus side though, it kind of let me take the time to nail down some of the vague plot ideas that I had for this, and I tuned them in a way that will make the story better in the long run. This story has a much more in depth plot for what happened to make the Circle get sent over than "just because".**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or the books that they came from. They are the creations of JK Rowling and Tamora Pierce. All that is mine is this particular scenario that I am putting them in.**

…

"Ready to talk about it yet?" Sandry asked tentatively.

Daja shook her head, face still buried in her arms.

"Alright, just...take your time then."

Through some miracle, Sandry, Briar, and Tris had managed to navigate their way through the castle well enough to meet Daja outside the Hufflepuff common room. They had tried talking to her there, but had quickly left to find some privacy from the students in the hall gawking at the four "exchange students": three nowhere near where they were supposed to be and the fourth with reddened eyes from crying. They had ended up sitting on the floor of the first empty classroom they found in silence, waiting for Daja to speak.

It took almost ten minutes for Daja to pull her head out of her arms, close her eyes, and take in a few meditation breaths to calm herself. The others waited as long as they could, but as soon as she opened her eyes again their panic and curiosity got the better of them.

"Who wasthat?" Tris demanded.

"Forget _who_," said Briar, "_what_ was that?"

"I don't know," Daja moaned. She squeezed her eyes shut again. "Was that what it was like when you saw things?"

The others looked at each other.

"Not for me," answered Tris slowly. "For me it was just like...all of the sudden I was thinking like someone else."

"Briar and I just heard things," said Sandry. "Well," she amended when Briar opened his mouth. "Mine was Lark, so maybe I was just remembering something. Briar didn't know his voices either."

"It was nothing like yours though," Briar told Daja. "It was just like...flashes. By the time I realized that there was something not right about it, it was already over."

Daja sighed, reluctant, but knowing that it was going to come up sooner or later said, "Isn't anyone going to say anything about _what_ I saw?"

For a few blessed moments, none of them had anything to say, until Sandry piped up with, "That you were...with a woman?"

"Her name's Rizu," Daja muttered.

"Wonderful, she has a name. We're just sinking deeper into a pit of insanity, aren't we," remarked Tris. "There's no way that _Rizu _was just you remembering something. You would have been too young for something like that before you met us – and still are by the way – and I think we would all have remembered if it happened _after _you met us."

"And there's no way _you've _kissed a girl before I have!"

"..."

"Your manliness isn't really the issue here, Briar," Daja said eventually.

"And it looked like they did more than kissing anyway," Tris added under her breath.

"If it's not that, then what did you think it would be?" Briar answered Daja. He leaned back against one of the desks. "It's not like you liking girls changes anything with us, 'specially after living with Lark and Rosethorn and all."

Daja moaned softly. "I knew you were going to say that."

"Well, of course he-"

"No," Daja said, cutting off Sandry. "I _knew _he was going to say that. Like he said it before."

"Oh," Sandry said quietly. There was another brief silence as they all tried to think of what that might mean.

"Maybe…" Sandry began again, "maybe…we did forget things? _Something _must have happened that we can't remember. We don't even know what we're doing here."

"Last thing I remember was being in my room, and then we woke up in that weird house." Briar interjected.

"Right!" said Sandry, happy to be getting somewhere. "Maybe whoever – or _whatever –_ brought us here did something to us, so we wouldn't know what happened, and we forgot other things too!"

"Who would it have been though?" Briar asked, straightening back up. "The Order? The Death Eaters?"

"Before you two get carried away, isn't anyone else seeing the problem with that?"

They all turned to look at Tris, who had until that point been unusually quiet while listening to Sandry and Briar.

"What problem?" asked Sandry, sounding almost defensive.

"Even if we are missing massive amounts of our memories and haven't noticed it until now, what Daja saw didn't even make sense as a memory."

Daja was barely even listening when Sandry asked Tris what she had meant. Daja had already noticed it for herself.

"That woman was an adult, and she didn't look short, but Daja was looking down at her. If Daja was remembering something, shouldn't she have been a lot smaller than that?"

"She's right," Daja said quietly. The image of her own hand in the woman's flashed back into her mind, and now she knew what had been wrong with it. Daja's own hand had looked much bigger than it was supposed to be.

"That makes it even less likely that it was real." Sandry's voice sounded relieved. "And even if it is real, are we even sure that that was Daja? What if she was seeing something that happened to someone else?"

Daja shook her head. "It was me. My hand had living metal on it."

But it was more than that. She still wasn't sure of where her memories of the woman had come from, but everything that she had felt in her with Rizu had been achingly familiar.

"So…" said Briar, "that was grown-up Daja?"

"Maybe Niko is rubbing off on us and we're seeing the future," Sandry suggested.

"That's not it," said Tris, the only one of the group with any scrying ability. "Niko told me what it's like to see the future, and it doesn't sound like this. Besides, if we're seeing the future, then how does Daja have that picture now?"

She gestured towards the locket lying on the ground between them.

Tris was as confused and worried as the rest of them, but for some reason, the thought that it _wasn't _real scared her even more. The dark-haired little girl was still there, lurking in the back of her mind, and even though Tris had never seen her before in her life, the thought that she might not exist made her start feeling panicky.

If it wasn't for the fact that the others were seeing things too, Tris would have been seriously doubting her sanity

"Maybe we can figure out where it was," Sandry was saying. "Daja? Do you remember much from what you were saying?"

Daja closed her eyes in concentration until part of her last conversation with Rizu popped into her head.

"_It's her Imperial Majesty,_" she repeated out loud, "_Something's happened, something that made her angry._"

It wasn't until she saw the baffled looks on Briar and Tris's faces and the shocked look on Sandry's that she realized that there was something seriously wrong with what she had said.

The words hadn't been in Imperial. She didn't even know what language she was speaking.

She struggled to hold on to the relative clarity that she had felt moments before, but even the meaning of the words was slipping away from her.

"Daja," Sandry breathed. "That…that was Namorese."

"You speak Namorese?" Tris asked, twisting around to look at Sandry.

Sandry nodded. "That's where my mother was from, remember?"

"What did I say?" Daja asked Sandry

Sandry frowned, trying to remember. "Something about…an Empress. An Empress being unhappy."

"That's not that hard to picture," Briar muttered. "A noble getting their feathers ruffled about something?"

Without looking at him, Sandry reached out and shoved Briar. He fell onto his side with his legs still crossed underneath him, and then had to awkwardly scramble back up.

"The only Empress that I can think of that would fit," Sandry continued as though nothing had happened. "Is the Empress of Namorn. She's my mother's cousin, so it would explain what she had to do with us."

"Have you met her?" Tris asked.

"Not since I was eight," Sandry replied, and then launched into a description of the woman and her court.

As Daja was involved in this the most, she probably should have been paying attention, but having the focus of the others shift away from her let her mind drift away. It was ridiculous to grieve for someone that might not even be real, but Rizu's face still lingering in her mind was causing a sharp ache in her that was somehow completely different, but just as bad, as she had felt when her family's ship sank. Was that love? she wondered. She wanted to tell herself that it was so devastating because she wasn't grown-up enough to deal with it, but the her that actually knew Rizu had been even more upset than she was now. At first, she had wondered how she could have let that happen to her, how she could have let the woman go. Now that she had had some time to think, she somehow understood that it was inevitable.

Because as her final conversation with Rizu had played out in her mind, Daja had somehow _known _the choice that she had had to make. And looking around at her friends now, Daja knew that she could have never made any other decision.

Sandry looked back up at Daja and saw the tears forming again. She leaned over and hugged her, and then gave a shaky laugh.

"We're a mess," she said. "How are we supposed to get through classes like this?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the sensible one?" Briar asked Daja. He shifted closer too, but wasn't really sure what to do once he got there and ended up awkwardly patting the top of her head.

"It's easier to be sensible when things actually make sense," Daja muttered.

Sandry smiled, but it looked a bit sad. "When have things _ever_ made sense for us?"

None of them quite had an answer to that.

"Speaking of classes…" said Tris, "how much time do you think we have left to eat breakfast and get our books before they start?"

Their conversation came to an immediate halt as all four of them tried to figure out how long they had been talking for. As one, they all stood and raced out of the room.

…

"Sandry!" Hermione exclaimed when she saw her arrive panting at the table. Harry and Ron quickly shushed her, and Hermione continued in a much softer voice. "Are you alright?"

Sandry immediately felt guilty and embarrassed. She had been so worried about Daja that she had just bolted from the room in the middle of their conversation without any explanation. The three of them were looking at her in curiosity and concern.

"I'm sorry. I...just remembered something that I needed to take care of," Sandry told them, and then immediately wanted to hit herself giving such a weak excuse. If Briar had been listening to her at that moment, he would have never let her hear the end of it.

"Er…that's alright," said Ron, clearly not sure of what else he should say. Behind him, Hermione was looking around the room. Her gaze darted to Briar, Tris, and Daja, finding seats and looking just as winded as Sandry was. Her eyes narrowed speculatively.

"Did I miss the schedules being handed out?" Sandry asked, hoping to distract Hermione.

It worked somewhat. Hermione still looked contemplative, but she turned back to Sandry and said. "Not yet, but they're going to do it soon. You should try to eat quickly."

Sandry looked at the food and suddenly realized that she was hungrier than she had thought. Knowing that she didn't have much time, Sandry decided to stick with the foods she had tried at Grimmauld place and loaded up her plate. Nearly everyone else at the table was already done eating, and the people at the far end of the table were being handed their schedules. She shoved her food into her mouth as quickly as Briar might have and was halfway through when the single sheet of paper was handed to her.

"Tough luck," Ron commented, reading the schedule upside-down from across the table. "Potions with Snape and the Slytherins on your first day."

Sandry looked at the "Potions" slot written after "Lunch Break" on her schedule, and immediately perked up.

"You mean that I have the class with Briar?" she asked brightly. Her eyes drifted to him across the hall. Briar looked up when he sensed her gaze on him and grinned at her.

"Well...yeah, but..." Ron started, but Harry and Hermione, remembering Sandry's outburst the night before, both kicked him under the table to shut him up.

...

It turned out that almost all of Sandry's classes were with another house, and she had her first one with Tris. The teacher was the stern woman that had brought them to the school. She stood at the front of the room and watched imposingly as they all found seats. Since Tris was a bit uncomfortable being in the classroom (although she would never have admitted it), the two of them sat in a desk at the back.

_You read the books on this one, right? _Sandry asked Tris as McGonagall wrote her name on the chalkboard. _What is Trans…_

_Transfiguration, _Tris supplied immediately. _It basically means changing things into something else. _

Sandry almost dropped her quill in surprise. _I thought that only the most powerful academic mages in the world could do that!_

Our _world. Not this one, apparently._

The lesson started off with the teacher giving the class a lecture on the dangers of transfiguration, and how she would not tolerate anyone fooling around. Tris rolled her eyes at Sandry, who tried not to smile. After all the warnings that they had gotten from their own teachers, combined with all the times that they had seen those warnings validated, it was hardly a lecture that they needed. Besides, it wasn't like they would be able to do anything more in this class than listen and take notes, anyway.

Things got a little more interesting when McGonagall turned her chair into a dog.

Sandry's jaw dropped open. They were still learning all of the mage laws, but she was fairly certain that creating a living creature from a chair only to turn it back again wasn't legal back home. She looked around the room in shock. The other students were looking a mixture of amazed, impressed, and bored, but no one looked like they thought it was _wrong_.

_Is it really this easy for them?_ Startled by Tris's voice in her mind, Sandry turned to look at her. Tris was staring at Professor McGonagall at the front of the room as her hands clenched in her lap. _They learn a few words_,_ wave a stick around, and magic just _happens_?_

The thought stung her a bit too. Her own magic was nowhere near as difficult to control as Tris's was, but when she remembered all the failures, all the times that she had lost control, and all the time that she'd had to spend meditating it was hard not to feel bitter. She knew that it had to be much worse for Tris, who had to struggle more with her magic than any of them.

Without a word, she squeezed Tris' hand under the table. Tris kept her eyes on the front of the room, but her own hand relaxed slightly in Sandry's.

Tris and Sandry were soon relieved to see that it took more than a wand to use wizard magic. The students were supposed to be turning small wooden sticks into needles, but the most that any of them were able to do was to make the wood of the 'matches' look like it had been painted silver, and they all looked frustrated and worn very quickly.

The interesting thing about their exhaustion was that it seemed mental rather than physical. They were fed-up, but they did not have that look of being _drained_ that mages got after using their power.

_They never do,_ said Tris. _I don't think that they ever run out of magic. Remember how they kept asking if you were sick when you were exhausted from yours at Grimmauld Place?_

_Does it even come from them? _Sandry asked. _Maybe it's just in the wands._

_It's them, _Tris replied, looking around the room. The glow that she had spotted in them last night was still there, fluctuating in little bursts now that they were trying to use their power. _If it was just the wands, then everyone here would be able to use magic. The wands must act as a focus._

_But that one that you stole from the Death Eaters didn't do anything for us when we tried it, unless Briar turning it into a tree counts. _

Absentmindedly, Tris grabbed one of her curls and tried to bring it to her mouth to chew on. It was too short to reach properly, and she glanced over at it in surprise.

Of course her hair was too short. What had she been expecting?

_Tris?_

Tris looked back at Sandry, who was watching her in concern. Tris blushed slightly. She must have looked like an idiot, glaring at her own hair.

_Their magic must just be different from ours, _she answered, bluntly and inadequately. Then she buried her face back in her textbook, trying to ignore the feeling that the world had just tilted sideways, and trying to ignore the feeling that her fingers should have touched a braid instead of a curl.

….

_You'd think that class with a dead man would be a bit more interesting than this, _Briar grumbled.

_Well, it is History, _she said. _It's not like we're actually supposed to be learning magic in this class_

Briar was quickly reminding Daja of his inability to focus on anything that didn't interest him. She had already had to stop him from picking the pockets of the Slytherin boy sharing the table with them, who had spent the time before class started rambling on about his rich family to Briar and ignoring Daja.

But she couldn't blame Briar, really, for his lack of interest in this class. She had been curious to learn more of the new magic-users' past, but the teacher himself didn't even seem to care. He just…floated at the front of the room, droning on without even looking at any of the students. Was formal school supposed to be like this? Aside from a few, disastrous group classes at Winding Circle before she had been brought to Discipline, she didn't really have much to compare it to. If the glanced from their classmates were anything to go by, the most entertaining thing in the class seemed to be _them._

Daja was finding herself feeling very grateful for Frostpine; even if they were just working on nails, he could still manage to keep things interesting. Of course, she was still a bit too emotionally unbalanced from the morning to be thinking about Frostpine right then, and she abruptly had to focus back on the teacher before her eyes welled up with tears again.

...Not that there was much to focus on. Listening to the ghost again, she decided that she wasn't really going to learn anything here besides what was already in the textbook anyway. Noticing that Briar was eyeing the boy's pockets again (most likely, he was considering it to test if his skills had gotten rusty), Daja decided that it would probably be best to let him be her distraction.

….

Daja was able to keep Briar mostly in line, so the four of them managed to make first period more or less uneventful. Of course, things never really stayed that way for long with them.

They traded the Houses that they were with for the second class, so Briar had class with Tris and Sandry with Daja. Briar's next teacher, the tiny, squeaky man that they had been introduced to as "Professor Flitwick" was at least more energetic than Binns, but sitting indoors when he knew that Daja and Sandry were having lessons in the school's _greenhouses_ was torture.

"Doesn't charm have to do with like...flirting or something?" he asked Tris out loud.

"Sort of," she told him, flipping though the textbook, "but I think that the exact definition has more to do with charisma in general."

Seeing that Briar was staring at her blankly, Tris sighed. "Charms seems to be about making something or someone do or feel something, but it's not really supposed to be harmful".

_Briar? You read the books on plants, right? _Daja called.

_Yes. Why?_

_I think one just winked at me. _

Briar and Tris shifted into her and Sandry's minds to get a better look. The two girls were in the greenhouses, waiting for herbology to start. None of the plants were like anything that they had ever seen before. Daja was looking at a small tree, which had a trunk pattern on it that looked disturbingly like a face. A tangle of vines was wiggling in the corner, and even the bizarrely coloured and shaped flowers seemed like they were on the verge of bursting out of their pots.

_Shut your mouth Briar, you look like you're about to start drooling._

Briar shut his mouth – which had actually started hanging open at some point – and turned to glare at Tris.

_If you can get all worked up over that storm last spring, I get to look at this,_ he informed her.

Tris blushed. _I didn't get _that _worked up. Besides, it made a little funnel cloud, all on its own! _

Briar slipped back into Daja's head. Reading about plants like this was completely different from seeing them for himself. He got an entirely different feeling from them, like they were not only alive, but _aware_ in a way that he had never felt before. Tentatively, he prodded them with his power.

Instantly, the movements of the plants turned into a frenzy. Tendrils shot out from an already wiggling tangle of vines and wrapped around Daja's ankles, jerking her off of her feet and dragging her back towards the main body of the plant. A different plant was starting to wrap feelers around Sandry, and the other students in the class were starting to scream, and the professor was running around shooting spells at the suddenly renegade greenery.

_Briar, tell them to back off! _Sandry cried. _They can feel you through us!_

Briar knew that she was right, but he had never gotten any reaction quite like this before. The biggest reaction that the plants should have had to his power second hand, when he wasn't even trying to make them do anything, was a few excited wiggles. But _these _plants weren't like any that he had ever seen. They were full of magic, and moving with a power that was all their own.

_Briar, _Daja called. She had grabbed onto the leg of a table to keep the plant from pulling her any further, and she was considering setting the end of her robe on fire to make it let go. _If you're going to do something about this, now would be a good time._

Briar snapped out of his daze, flushed slightly at being caught dawdling like that.

_Cut it out! _he yelled, but it didn't do much. If anything, hearing him just got the plants even more worked up.

_Try again, _said Tris, _and think Rosethorn._

Briar took a deep breath, called up an image of his teacher in his mind, and in his best imitation snapped, _STOP IT!_

It worked, sort of. The plants were still moving around, but they seemed to calm down a bit, and the one's holding onto Sandry and Daja let go instantly.

Now that they were freed, the girls were able to take stock a bit better stock of what was happening. The rest of the class was huddled near the doors, trying to keep away from the vines and leaves that were flicking in their direction. Daja and Sandry hurried over to stand with them, not wanting to draw any more attention to themselves than they already had.

_Think I should try to do anything else? _Briar asked. The plants were _still _acting up.

_No, _Tris answered instantly. _The faster you get out of there, the faster they'll settle down. Besides, if we get involved anymore, someone will figure out it was us. _

With that, they both pulled out of Sandry and Daja's minds and settled back into the Charms room.

_We're going to have to do something about that before we have that class, _Tris told him. She wasn't even looking at him as she pulled out her books – they had learned to hide the signs that they were talking to each other when there were strangers watching them. _If the plants got that excited without you even being in the greenhouse, imagine what they'll do once you actually _do _go there._

While they had been in the greenhouse, Professor Flitwick had been demonstrating some of the spells that they would be learning that year. When Briar and Tris dropped their link with Sandry and Daja, he was in the middle of making a feather float in the air at wand point. He lowered the feather back down, and started on a much more in-depth explanation of the subject than Tris had given Briar.

Tris and Briar tried to pay attention, but for the first several minutes of class they were too distracted, still feeling curious, tense, and guilty about how the Herbology teacher was managing the chaos in the greenhouse. By the time they were able to focus, they had missed too much and very quickly felt lost in the material. After a brief attempt at note-taking, they gave up and decided to just catch up later with the summary of the Charms book that Daja had written out for them back at Grimmauld Place.

The window was open, and Tris felt a breeze drift into the room. Once inside, it naturally gravitated towards her. No one else paid it much attention, but as it passed over the teacher's desk it rustled his papers and swept up the feather that was still perched on top of a book. The feather drifted for a few seconds, but settled down a few feet beside their desk.

Bored, Tris sent a puff of wind at the feather to lift it into the air. It fluttered off of the table, and Tris began to play with it by making it loop, dive and then shoot straight back up again.

_I don't think that's how it's supposed to work, _said Briar, watching a particularly impressive spiral.

_That's how I make it work,_ Tris retorted as she let the feather settle exactly in its original spot on the floor.

She looked back at the teacher, only to find that he and the rest of the class were staring at her and Briar. Apparently, she had just done a demonstration of her own.

_Oops? _said Briar.

Tris tensed as the whispering from the other students made her old instincts kick back in hard. How had she forgotten herself like that? Discipline had made her too relaxed with letting other people see her power. It had _never _gone well when strangers saw what she could do. Even if these people were magic users, they weren't _mages_, and of course they would react like everyone else to a new kind of magic. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth, ready with an attack before they–

"Remarkable!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, a reaction so different from what Tris was expecting that she instantly forgot what she was going to say. "Which one of you did that? _How _did you do that?"

"Tris," Briar answered, after waiting for her to speak and realizing that she was still lost for words. "She can move the wind around."

"With no wands?" the teacher asked. "With no spells?" He was looking both incredulous and delighted, and Tris suddenly realized that the stares of the others in the room weren't scared, or angry but _amazed..._

"I dunno," Briar answered, mentally nudging Tris for help. "We don't really need that stuff for magic. We just have to...learn to just _do it_ I guess."

"And can you control the wind as well?"

"No," Briar answered, prodding the girls – _all _of the girls – for advice on how to answer. He kept it as brief as possible. "Mine's with plants."

"So magic-users of your kind have unique powers?" The tiny man was clearly not as easily satisfied as Briar had hoped. Now he just looked fascinated. "Or do you specialize-"

"I beg your pardon," said Tris tensely, on edge from having everyone in the room continue to stare at her and Briar, no matter _how _they were doing it, "but I think that our classmates are here to learn about their own magic, not ours."

Listening back in the greenhouse through Briar, Sandry winced, and then sighed. Tris managed to sound rude even when she was trying to be tactful.

Fortunately, the teacher did not seem to take offence. He just cried "Yes, yes of course, my apologies. Perhaps later then..." and continued on with the lesson, and gradually, the attention of the class came back to the front of the room.

….

By the time that Harry and Ron met Hermione for lunch, Harry was sure that people were staring at him even more than usual. Last night he had been able to tell himself that it was just because Sandry had sat with him at dinner – or at least, he had before he had talked to Seamus – but now he knew. Even though more people believed that the Death Eaters at least were back since they kidnapped Briar and Tris, it didn't mean that he was any less of a spectacle. Half of the people staring at him clearly still thought he was a nutter, and the rest looked like they felt sorry for him. Not wanting to think about it anymore, he focused back on his friends. It wasn't until they were halfway to the great hall when he realized that Ron was the only one talking.

"What's wrong?" he asked Hermione. Ron abruptly stopped chattering about Quidditch.

"It's nothing," Hermione told him, but then after a few seconds went on with "I'm just...thinking about our new students."

Ron looked around like he expected someone from the Ministry to be lurking behind a corner and hissed, "Not so loud!"

"Isn't it…strange?" Hermione went on carefully. "That Sandry just ran out like that this morning, and they were all missing at the same time?"

Ron rolled his eyes, exasperated enough to drop his guard a bit. "You're thinking too much into it. Maybe they just made plans to meet up and Sandry forgot about it."

Ron's explanation made sense, but Harry just knew that he was wrong. Realizing that she had left her friends waiting for her could have never given Sandry the degree of shock and worry that he had seen on her face just before she had left the room.

"What about what happened this summer?" Hermione asked. "Did Sandry and Daja just _remember_ that Briar and Tris were being kidnapped?"

"Sandry told me that mage bonds can let them know when something happens to someone that their connected to," said Harry, remembering his conversation with her that day.

"So that's it, then," Ron told Hermione. "Sandry and Daja felt them get attacked."

Hermione still looked hesitant. "Maybe…but it doesn't feel like-oof!"

As they were turning the corner, Hermione had walked straight into someone coming the other way. Harry grabbed her before she fell, but the other person wasn't so lucky. Out of the corner of his eye, he figure in front of them toppled over backwards instantly.

"I'm sorry," Hermione was saying. "I wasn't – Tonks?"

Harry's head jerked away from Hermione, and sure enough, there was Tonks sprawled across the floor, looking almost as surprised as they were. She scrambled back up the second Hermione said her name

"Not here!" she hissed at them, looking around almost exactly as Ron had. Not seeing anyone watching, she grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him into the nearest classroom. Ron and Hermione followed quickly behind.

"You can't show that you know me," Tonks told them after casting a muffling charm at the door. "We wouldn't have met yet if it wasn't for the Order, and according to the Ministry that's not supposed to exist."

"What are you doing here?" Ron asked. "Is it an Order thing?"

"Sort of," Tonks said, and sighed. "I didn't think that I would ever say this but…I'm your new Professor."

…

It ended up taking the bewildered Professor Sprout (did they pick mage names here too? There was no way that that one was an accident) most of the class to finish calming the plants down while the students chattered nervously and sat as far away from the greenery as they could without leaving the building. Sandry and Daja been trying to look as innocent, nervous, and curious as the rest of the class, but the long look that the teacher had given them as they hurried out with the crowd as soon as the bell rang made them think she might have caught on.

They followed the rest of the students back to the castle for the midday meal, but almost as soon as they were in the doors Sandry turned and broke off from the group, leaving Daja standing in the hall behind her.

"The Great Hall is that way," Daja called after Sandry. "Where are you going?"

"I know where it is," Sandry answered, then gestured towards her bag. "I want to put my books away before we eat."

Daja shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'm going to swap mine for the afternoon after I eat. I'm starved."

Sandry started up the staircase as Daja followed the stragglers back to the Great Hall.

Sandry managed to find her way back to the Gryffindor common room without any major difficulties, which was remarkable in itself considering that the castle was at least as big as the Citadel and everything seemed to move. She remembered the password to get in to the common room even through her remaining shock about talking to a portrait, and then climbed inside.

There was hardly anyone in the common room, just two older girls who watched Sandry curiously as she walked past them and up the spiral staircase.

Her room was empty, and for a few moments she let herself flop forwards onto the cool blankets on her bed. She knew that all in all, the morning could have gone much worse, but it had still been exhausting.

Her stomach grumbled, and she made a face and forced herself to get up and root through her trunk to switch her books. As she pulled out _Magical Drafts and Potions_ she paused, and then pulled out the little leather case that usually held her light-stone. The stone was now wrapped inside some of her robes in the trunk, and inside the case was their thread. She pulled it out.

Sandry had left the thread behind that morning because she felt better having it somewhere that she wouldn't lose it. Now, after everything that had happened that morning, and whatever it was that Daja had been through, she wasn't feeling quite so secure with leaving it behind.

She looked at the thread for a few more seconds, slipped it into a pouch inside her bag after the book, closed the trunk, and left.

Feeling the thread's power so close to her body made her feel a bit better, but she was still worried. Daja had forced herself to get through the morning, but Sandry knew how devastated she had been. Would she be able to deal with whatever it was that had happened to her when she ran out of things to keep herself distracted with? Would _all _of them be alright, if they kept seeing things like that?

"_Hem-hem._"

Sandry had been too absorbed in her thoughts to even notice the woman waiting in the hall until she heard her pointedly clear her throat. She halted in her tracks, and then slowly turned around.

Standing several feet behind her was a short woman with bulging eyes that made Sandry think of a frog. She was dressed entirely in pink, had a big bow on her head, and looked very familiar.

"Hello, dear," the woman told her. "My name is Dolores Umbridge. We met at the Ministry a few weeks ago. Do you remember?"

Sandry did remember, and looked at the woman warily.

"There's nothing to be worried about," said Dolores Umbridge, giving a smile that was probably meant to look sweet, but instead made Sandry feel nauseous. "I was just hoping to have a little chat."

Sandry immediately called her friends.

_TBC_

...

**So I hope that this was worth the wait, but if it wasn't than I can let you know that a lot of the bigger plot lines are going to be coming back into play (or appearing for the first time) over the next few chapters, so you at least have something to look forward to. **

**I'm really short on time right now (trying to get this posted before I have to leave for my uncle's birthday party), so I'm going to combine my responses to the reviews for last chapter in when I finish the next one. For now, thank you to everyone who reviewed my story, and I'm sorry again about the wait!**

**On a side note, I have a few ideas for short stories/oneshots from Tamora Pierce's **_**Protector of the Small **_**Series. I want to practice writing from different perspectives. I'm going to wait until I get back on track with this one and **_**Duality**_** (which I have also still been working on), but I'm probably going to get to them before the end of summer. For anyone that's read the **_**PotS**_** series, are there any that you would rather read first?**

**1. The night that Tobe met Kel from his POV. Will be a four-chaptered fic. I know that this idea has been done before, but this one is going to expand more and have a little bit of a twist to it.**

**2. Tobe and Owen trying to catch up with Kel when she goes after the refugees (I like Tobe if you can't tell).**

**3. The evolution of Conal of Mindelan, and his relationship with his sister Kel. It will probably be one long, episodic chapter. The timeframe will go from Kel's birth to her getting her shield. It will also have a different writing style from what you've seen from me so far due to its structure.**

**I also have an idea for a HP oneshot. J. K. Rowling mentioned that Harry and Dudley are on "Christmas card terms" and Harry occasionally comes for slightly awkward visits with his kids. I want to write something on one of those visits. I have some ideas for this one, but I still need more time to develop it. **

**Let me know what you think.**


	12. Chapter 12

**…_._**

**…_.. ….._**

…_**Yeah, I really don't have any good excuse for how long this took. At this point I'm basically just going OMG IT'S FINALLY DONE AAAHHHH!**_

_**Please read the end notes for important announcements. (but no peeking yet!)**_

_**Brief recap of cliffhangers (anyone that's still hanging on after the last update has probably forgotten by now): Tonks announced that she will be taking over Defence, and Umbridge showed up wanting to talk to Sandry.**_

**Disclaimer: You know the drill.**

**…**

**Hogwarts Castle**

"Wait…you're…What?"

"Your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor," Tonks repeated. It didn't seem to help much, so she elaborated.

"Dumbledore wanted someone from the order to fill the position, and there weren't really many other options. Sirius is a wanted fugitive, Remus already had to quit here, Mad-Eye got locked in a trunk the last time he tried this, and everyone else either doesn't know enough or already has jobs that they can't leave."

"No offense, Tonks," Hermione said hesitantly, "but are you even…_qualified _to be a teacher?"

"She's more qualified than Lockheart," Harry said. Honestly, he didn't care much about how qualified she was. At least it was good to know right from the start of the year that his Defence Professor wasn't going to somehow almost get him killed.

"_Pig_ is more qualified than Lockheart," Ron muttered to him.

"I asked that too," Tonks told them, "but I _am _an Auror. And honestly, it could have been muchworse."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you about the hag that the _Ministry_ was planning on giving the job."

…

The pink woman – _Dolores Umbridge – _decided that she and Sandry should have their 'little chat' in an empty classroom. She knew that it probably wasn't the best idea to let herself be alone with her, but she, Briar, Tris, and Daja had decided to try to get more than just the Headmaster as their source of information. The hallways were almost deserted anyway, and with no one from the Order in sight her only option to find someone was to sprint off.

And she wasn't alone, really.

In the Great Hall, the others were grabbing whatever they could of the midday meal and heading towards the doors. They had quickly decided that they couldn't interfere in person – suddenly showing up right where and when Umbridge did would have raised too many questions – but Sandry could already feel the slight breeze that Tris was building up just in case ruffling her robes.

Umbridge made two chairs zip to the center of the room facing each other with a flick of her wand, and then waved Sandry to sit in one as she took the other. She sat as primly as she could, and tried not to let her agreement with Tris's _Couldn't she have done that by hand?_ show on her face.

The toad-woman reached into the bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out a little book and a quill.

"Now then," she began, in a sickeningly sweet tone "if you remember, one of the Ministry's conditions for allowing Headmaster Dumbedore to keep you here was that we would be allowed to check in on how you and your friends are doing." She began almost absentmindedly writing something on the book's blank pages. "It must be a difficult adjustment to make, especially with you being _so_ far from home."

"Thank you for your concern," Sandry answered stiffly, "but we are doing fine."

"Are you sure?" the woman asked, and Sandry could almost physically feel the trap coming on in her words. "No one is making you feel unwelcome, or even a _teensy_ bit uncomfortable here?"

_Careful_, Tris warned her. _She wants an excuse to take us out of here so she can take us back to the Ministry. If you complain about anything she'll say that this isn't the right place for us._

"Everyone has been very welcoming," said Sandry, and then for good measure threw in "They've made us feel right at home."

"Are you sure?" Umbridge asked. "Because from what _I've _heard, you had a little tiff with a boy named Harry Potter and his friends last night, and I just wanted to make sure that he hasn't done anything to upset you."

Sandry didn't need a warning from her friends to realize what she was trying to do this time. Umbridge was trying to not only take them out of the school, but get Sandry to make some complaint about Harry.

"That was a small disagreement that I overreacted to," she said in the most authoritative tone that she could. "It wasn't even Harry that upset me; it was a friend of his, and that person has apologized. They have been helping me get used to the school."

This time, Umbrigde decided to dictate her writing. It was almost too quiet to hear, but Sandry was sure that she heard the woman mutter "Hesitant to talk about possible hostilities" over the scratching of her pen.

Sandry felt a rush of anger. "I'm telling the truth."

"Of course you are, dear," Umbrige said, her voice just a little too perky. "Now then, what do you think of your house dormitories?"

…..

_Just say that the dormitory is wonderful, _Daja said. Then she added, _Don't sound too excited though. She'd probably use it as an excuse to start asking about where we live. _

The three of them had ended up sitting under a tree on the grounds. People usually started giving them strange looks whenever they got into long conversations in their heads, so they'd decided it was best to not have to deal with this in the Great Hall.

The more questions Umbridge asked, the more apparent it was that Tris had been right about what she was trying to do. They all had a needling edge, a little trigger that would have given anyone else a lead into saying what Umbridge wanted to hear.

Daja and Tris were still helping Sandry with the answers, but Briar just listened. He didn't think that they had to worry about her slipping up in this part, as long as she didn't lose her temper and leave the woman tied up in a ball of her own clothes. The girl was a noble, but she was no whiner. She'd been the only one not complaining when they'd first been sent to Dicipline.

A spot of pink caught Daja's eye, and she turned to see Tonks coming out the doors. Tonks spotted them at the same time, and she headed over.

Briar followed Daja's gaze. _What's she doing here?_

_Don't you pay attention? _Tris chided. _They said she was going to teach here. _

_Oh, right._

Tonks stopped a few feet away from them and smiled.

"How are you doing so far?" she asked.

"I thought we weren't supposed to give away that we already knew people?" Briar said, his voice lowered so the other students outside wouldn't hear him.

"It's fine to talk now," Tonks told him just as quietly. "I'm a Professor, so if people see us talking they'll think that I'm just checking up on how the new students are doing." She thought for a moment. "Which is actually true, now that I think about it"

_Why am I suddenly on my own? _Sandry called into their minds as Umbridge waited for her next answer with clearly feigned patience.

_Sorry, _Tris told her. To the others she said, _Briar and I will help Sandry. Daja, you handle the conversation. _

"It's really different from what we're used to," Daja said immediately, still very preoccupied by the prompts that Tris and Briar were giving Sandry. "The classes that we've had so far seem interesting."

Tonks picked up on their tense, distracted expressions and looked them over again. She frowned.

"Where's Sandry?" she asked.

The three of them glanced at each other in surprise.

_If she teaches here, shouldn't she know that that woman's came? _Tris asked slowly.

Daja looked back up into Tonks's eyes. "Someone from the ministry came. Sandry's talking to her now"

Tonks looked at her for an instant as if she wasn't sure that she had heard right. Then, she paled slightly and hurried off without another word.

_I might be wrong, _said Briar, _but I'm gonna guess she didn't know._

…

"Now then, why don't you tell me a little more about your magic?"

There it was. After all the pleasantries and questions about how hard they were finding getting around the castle, questions about how they could handle the subject material with so little experience in it, and questions about their sorting ("How difficult it must be for you all to be separated so soon!"), there was the real reason that the Ministry was so interested. After all, it was hard to imagine that any of the officials she had seen there really had any genuine alarmed concern over whether or not she got lost on the way to her classrooms.

"We have ambient magic," Sandry began. "The other kind is called academic, and it's more like what people can do here, but without wands. Ambient is more connected to things. Mine is with thread, Tris's is with weather, Daja is a smith mage and Briar's got plant magic."

Umbridge made a note in her book. She didn't read that one out loud, and it didn't look long enough to be a description of their magic

"And are all "mages" as strong as you?"

"Mages can have different amounts of power," Sandry told her, although she knew that it wasn't really an answer.

"And what about you four?"

None of them were sure if it was better to have Umbridge underestimating them or overestimating mages as a whole at that point, so Sandry stuck as close to the truth as she dared and said. "We're a little bit stronger than average. The four of us are on a fairly close level to each other"

Without even realizing that she was doing it, Sandry tugged her bag closer to her side and ran her fingers over the material. She could feel their thread inside; nestled safely in one of the pockets. The magic inside called out to her, soothed her.

Until she saw the woman's gaze drift lower, and realized what she was doing. Hurriedly, she made to release the bag to swing back over her chair, but Briar stopped her.

_Don't drop it now! That'll just tell her for sure that you got something._

_Why did you bring that, anyway?_

_I wouldn't have liked leaving it behind either. _

_I can't just keep holding on. It looks strange. _

Most likely, Tris thought, this wasn't worth how much they were worrying about it. Even if Umbridge did suspect anything, it wasn't like she had any valid reason to get Sandry's bag off of her. Still, just the thought of her trying to take their thread – or even _looking _at their thread – had Tris's blood boiling.

Sandry compromised. She pulled the bag the rest of the way onto her lap and allowed her hands to rest over it gracefully. Umbridge stared at it for another moment, then back up at Sandry's face. She smiled.

Fortunately, Sandry was spared from whatever the next question was going to be. There was a knock at the door.

"Now really, the Ministry keeps rescheduling on me and forgetting to mention it lately," Dumbledore said mildly. Tonks followed him into the room. Sandry felt a rush of relief that she didn't entirely understand. "You weren't planning on coming until the end of the week."

For just a moment, a look of annoyance crossed Umbridge's face, but by the time that Sandry had registered it the sugary smile was back. "Oh, I'm sorry," she told him, "but the Ministry thought it would be best to get an idea of how they were settling in. I was on my way up to your office when I ran into one of our little guests, and I thought that a one-on-one chat between girls would make her a little more comfortable than having other people crowded in listening."

"Yes," Dumbledore answered in a tone of polite agreement. "I can understand just how easily a visit like this could become uncomfortable for her."

The woman paused, clearly trying to work out whether or not she should take offence. Dumbledore took advantage of that pause to add. "Now then, if you're all finished here, I believe it's time for Sandry to be getting ready for class," and Tonks hurried over to try to subtly usher her out of the room.

"Just one more question dear," Umbridge called after them. Sandry and Tonks stopped in their tracks, looking back at her warily.

"From my understanding, you have been in here with her sufficiently long enough to establish how well she is settling in," Dumbledore told her with a bit of steel creeping into his tone.

"You see," Umbridge went on, ignoring him, "We at the Ministry thought of something that was a little odd in your story, and we thought it might be something that we should check on."

Sandry just watched her warily, waiting for her to come out with it.

"From what we've heard, you got to Diagon Alley though unknown means and didn't come into substantial contact with anyone until that nasty little incident on the street a day or two later, is that correct?"

Sandry nodded, but Umbridge didn't seem satisfied until she actually answered, "Yes."

"You see, our problem is that the witnesses on the street said that your friends were already wearing wizard robes when they were taken. We wanted to ask who gave them to you."

Sandry didn't answer right away, and Umbridge continued. "Now, I can understand why you would be a little hazy on the details, given all that's happened to you, so if you can remember something and want to change your story now…"

"May I ask what it is that you are implying, Delores?" Dumbledore asked, perhaps trying to buy Sandry some time.

"I'm not _implying _anything," Umbridge answered sweetly. Sandry doubted that. "I'm simply wondering if there is something that the stress might have made slip their minds."

"Nothing 'slipped our minds' Sandry spoke up. Dumbledore looked a little surprised, but didn't interrupt. "We just didn't think that it was worth mentioning before."

"Didn't think that _what _was worth mentioning?" The quill was moving back to write on the book again.

"I made them."

"Made them," Umbridge repeated. She sounded so skeptical that Sandry couldn't help feeling offended.

Briar had once told her to put in as much of the truth as possible if she was going to lie. In this case, she would probably be more convincing if she overdid it.

"I _am _a stitch witch after all," she allowed just a tiny bit of pride to creep back into her tone. "We didn't know where we were, so we wanted to blend in until we figured things out. We saw a shop that was selling robes – " she had picked up on that through Tris's eyes, " – and I used those as a model. Fortunately, I had a sewing needle with me. I got the thread and the material from the clothes we were already wearing. Tris and I were wearing dresses with underskirts, so we had enough. Of course, it was all different colors, but I know a charm that at least made it _look _like it was all in black. They still ended up looking rundown though. I would them to show you, but they were such a mess by the time that Headmaster Dumbledore found us that I had to throw them out."

That last part was a bit difficult to say. No matter how limited her time and supplies were, _she_ would never have made something for Tris to wear that was too long at her feet, or put Daja in an outfit that didn't fit properly around her shoulders. Still, it was probably for the best that this woman didn't know everything that they could do. At this point, Umbridge was looking like she just wanted Sandry to stop talking about clothes, which was more or less what she had been going for.

Instead, Umbridge asked, "Why did you go to those lengths?"

"What do you mean?" Sandry asked, trying to keep a politely curious tone while her mind started racing.

"I can understand why you would want to be cautious in a strange place, but that should have its limits. Why was it that you were so reluctant to ask any of the wizards that you would have seen for help? Do we really seem so untrustworthy to you?"

_In other words,_ Tris spoke up for the first time in a while, _now she's trying to twist it so it looks like we've been thinking of wizards as enemies to make us look like a threat. _

"We were rather unsettled at the time. Besides, didn't it turn out that we had good reason to be cautious?" Sandry said. "We weren't safe. Wizards kidnapped us while we were in there, remember? We didn't know anything about where we were, so we decided to be careful and hide ourselves. It turned out that time that we needed to be careful."

"And are you still being 'careful' now?"

Sandry looked at her quietly. Normally, she wouldn't rise to the bait (or at least, would make a better effort not to rise to the bait), but everything about this woman was getting her dander up, and the others were silent, making no attempt to stop her.

Of course, Sandry would have preferred to be able to simply put on her Duchess face (as Briar called it) and let the woman have it, but she knew that this time, she was going to have to be a little more subtle. Thanks to spending most of her life having to deal with nobles that disapproved of her parent's travels, Sandry had more experience responding to thinly veiled criticism and false political niceties than most adults did. If this woman was going to try playing games with her, she could do the same right back.

Sandry's big blue eyes widened into a look of polite bewilderment

"We were nervous about being here at first, of course. After all, we've never been to a school like this before. But we felt better after we heard more about it. I mean, if the _Ministry_ has so much faith in this school, to encourage the parents of all the magical children in your country come here, it _must _be a safe place."

At least some of that was true. She didn't think that she should mention that the student that had told her about how safe the castle was supposed to be was Hermione; it had come up that morning when she'd been talking to her, Ron, and Harry about some of Hogwarts' history. She also didn't mention that she could tell that Hermione had said it to try to make Sandry feel a bit more comfortable there after what had happened with Ron, but the three of them hadn't seemed too convinced of it themselves.

And she knew that the Ministry wasn't really putting that much faith into the school now, but Umbridge wouldn't dare correct her in front of witnesses now that she'd turned that lack of faith into a possible betrayal of their civilians.

"Now then," Dumbledore cut in. "I do believe that Sandry is going to be late for her next class."

And with that. Sandry found herself swept out of the room.

…

Unfortunately, Umbridge was not quite that easy to get rid of.

She'd insisted on following them all the way to the dungeons, and wouldn't leave even once they'd arrived.

"Thank you for being _so _accommodating," she'd told Dumbledore (Tonks had run off as soon as Dumbledore reminded her that she was supposed to be in class too), "we were just hoping to see how this little experiment of yours would work out in a classroom setting."

Briar had saved her a seat at one of the tables. She hurried over to him, unknowingly becoming the first Gryffindor to voluntarily sit next to a Slytherin in that class in decades.

"Did I miss much?" she asked quietly.

Briar shook his head. _He was just going on about…boiling fame, or something._

Snape didn't look very pleased when he saw who Sandry had brought with her, but he made no comment on her being late. She saw him look back at the headmaster, and some silent communication passed between them.

"Turn to page 27," he said after a moment, and with one final murmur to Umbridge Dumbledore drifted from the room.

Briar ended up doing most of the work, leaving Sandry just enough menial tasks to make it look like she was actually helping. Rosethorn had gotten him used to this sort of work, even if many of the ingredients they had now were decidedly not plant-based. One of them seemed to still be wiggling. It left Sandry free to glance back every now and then at Umbridge, who was watching them intently with her amphibious eyes.

_I think she's trying to see if you tell Briar anything, _Tris told her. By this point, she and Daja weren't even trying to pay attention in their class.

She was right. Every time she or Briar said something about the potion out loud, they were treated to the woman's undivided attention, which would fade only when they went silent. Then she would go back to scribbling in that notebook of hers.

_I could probably get that off of her. _Briar sounded mutinous.

_She's probably got some sort of magic on it. If you get caught, it wouldn't help our case much. _

Her stomach grumbled. Sandry hadn't gotten a chance to eat since her hurried breakfast.

Umbridge spent the rest of the class at the back of the room. At one point, the potions teacher drifted back there to speak to her. Sandry and Briar couldn't make out what they were saying, and were trying not to get caught looking, but within a few minutes Snape was leaving with his face even more sour than before and Umbridge was back to scribbling her version of whatever had just happened into her book.

The boy at the next table charmed the potion for them when the book told them to (blushing bright red behind his freckles and gawking at Sandry when she asked). Thanks to Briar, theirs had been one of the few to turn out the right colour. Sandry couldn't help feeling a bit smug at the surprised expressions on Snape and Umbridge's faces when they noticed, although she wasn't quite sure what the ministry would make of it.

(Not that she really had much right to feel like she had accomplished something, really. Sandry wasn't even quite sure what the potion was supposed to _do_.)

Amid the noise and disorder as the class packed up and left the room, Briar quietly pulled something out of his bag and slipped it into Sandry's hands. Umbridge was clearly still trying to keep an eye on her, so she stuffed it in her own bag immediately without really looking at it. It wasn't until Briar was waiting for her at the door that she dared peek inside the cloth-wrapped bundle.

In spite of everything that had happened so far that day, Sandy was smiling. Of course Briar would be the one to think of getting her some food.

…

"So, Delores," the Headmaster had said once he met the three of them in the hall, "are you finished for the day?"

"Actually," Umbridge answered, "I was hoping that I could speak to the rest of our young guests at some point as well. How about Miss Chandler for now?"

_Why me? _Tris sounded somewhat alarmed.

_She probably figured out that you'll snap the easiest._

Tris wanted to argue with Daja, but even she was having a hard time disagreeing.

"Well then," Dumbledore's tone was as pleasantly neutral as it had been for most of the afternoon, "why don't we see if we can meet her on her way to her next class. Since I'm here already, perhaps I shall sit in this time."

So, Tris found herself sitting in what was probably one of the teacher's offices with Umbridge in a chair across from her and Dumbledore behind a desk in what felt like moments. The woman was starting with less pointed versions of questions like she had given Sandry – like how she was dealing with classes and getting used to the school. Those weren't so bad; she seemed to be behaving herself a bit better now that she was being supervised.

But a few minutes in, things started to get more personal.

"How long have the four of you known each other?"

Tris hesitated, then after a quick debate with the others decided to answer honestly. Umbridge would probably draw some dangerous conclusion no matter what she said anyway.

"A year and a half."

"A year and a half!" She exclaimed. They'd been right. "With how close the four of you seem, I'd assumed that it was longer."

_Not necessarily_, Sandry said. _In this sort of situation, you stick with whoever you know whether you're close or not. _

_You say 'this sort of situation' like it could happen any time, _Tris responded dryly. _Since when can _anything _about us be referred to as 'this sort of situation'? _Out loud she said, "We live together."

Even Umbridge looked a bit genuinely taken aback by that.

"With our teachers," Tris explained. Of course, she wasn't satisfied with that.

"Do you mean that there are enough of you 'mages' for a school?"

"Much more, but no." Then she found herself having to explain how teaching mages worked.

"Why is this sort of system necessary?" Umbridge asked. After scribbling down whatever she could.

Because we're too dangerous to be left alone, she wanted to say. Because I destroy things when people make me angry.

She figured that she should water it down a bit.

Instead, Tris said, "Magic doesn't work the same for everyone where we come from. Living with our teachers lets them keep a closer eye on things. Children with magic at Winding Circle Temple stay in a special cottage, so that's how we all wound up together."

She decided to refrain from directly mentioning Discipline by name though. It was very easy to get entirely the wrong impression from it.

The book was tilted downwards for a moment. Tris thought that she might have caught the words "religious cult?" before it was tilted back up again.

"And where is this 'temple'?"

"Summersea"

"And that is…"

"In Emelan."

"I meant what country."

"Emelan _is _the country"

Umbridge wrote something down.

Apparently, the 'other world' theory that they had heard some of the Order discussing was not widely accepted.

"Could I get the names of your teachers?"

Tris didn't see the point. It wasn't like the names would mean anything to _her_. She cooperated anyway.

"Dedicates Lark, Rosethorn, and Frostpine, and Niklaren Goldeye."

Halfway through writing down the list, Umbridge halted and looked back up at her. Tris knew without her having to say anything that she thought she was lying.

"Mages are allowed to choose new names when they get their certification," she told her.

"Well, they certainly made some…interesting choices." Tris hastily yanked back in the spark that was starting to form in her hair. "Could you tell me a teeny bit more about them?"

And just like that, her annoyance turned to rage.

She didn't have to worry about sparks this time; it was a cold kind of anger, staying simmering under her skin. The others were angry too. The toad was going to make her talk about them. Tris understood right away that she was going to sit there and listen and try to pick their teachers apart in her notes like she had undoubtedly been doing to Dumbledore the whole time.

Tris wasn't going to give her anything to work with.

"We are very fortunate to be allowed to work with them. Niklaren Goldeye is the top authority on magic in our country – probably in a lot of countries – and has had a very successful career as a professor at Lightsbridge university. Lark, Rosethorn, and Frostpine are all the most powerful mages known with their types of magic, and hold important positions on the Mage Council."

_They do?_

_Briar, you have to start listening to the boring conversations sometimes too. You miss a lot. _

She wasn't to tell her anything about what they were actually like. About Niko's obsession over his clothes, Lark's dancing, Frostpine's sense of humor or Rosethorn's struggling to regain use of her sharp tongue. Here, Niko, Lark, Rosethorn, and Frostpine were theirs as much as the thread was.

Again the woman was taken aback, but recovered quickly.

"If you don't mind me asking," Umbridge began. Tris already knew that she would. "What do your parents think of this arrangement?"

The room went silent.

"…What?" Tris croaked out after a while.

"Your parents," the woman went on. "Surely this is difficult for them, sending their daughter away to live with strangers. Did they ever object, or did they decide that that was best for you? Are you able to stay in regular contact with them?"

"Now, now, Delores," Dumbledore cut in. He had been watching Tris's reactions carefully. Tris got the sense that he'd been as interested in their conversation as Umbridge. "You have already obtained information about their residence and guardians – and their educators for that matter. We don't need to start prying too excessively into such a potentially sensitive topic."

Umbridge backed off, but there was a very faint smirk on her face as she wrote something else down in her book.

"It's fine." Tris couldn't quite help her harsh tone. Half of her attention was just on keeping the sparks down by that point. "That's just how things are with mages. Got any more questions?"

_I had to behave myself, _Sandry told her sternly. _ So do you._

_This _is_ me behaving myself._

"Just one more," Umbridge replied sweetly. Tris braced herself. "Where did you get the robes that you were wearing in Diagon Alley?"

For a moment, Tris's heart seemed to freeze in her chest

"I should hardly think that you need to hear this twice," Dumbledore cut in. He was trying to warn her, Tris realized. He didn't know that Tris already knew of the trap, and of the way out of it. He was just starting to continue, perhaps to give her some other clue, but Tris cut over him.

"Sandry made them. Out of the clothes that we had with us."

Umbridge looked a bit taken aback. Tris didn't think that she was any more convinced after hearing their excuse twice, but she wrote something down anyway.

Tris glanced around the room. The Headmaster had gone quiet, but he was staring at Tris with an unreadable expression on his face.

Too late, Tris realized that in trying to deceive Umbridge, they might have revealed more to Dumbledore than they had been intending.

_Nothing we can do about it now, _Briar told her.

_Honestly, he doesn't even look as surprised as he should, _Sandry said. _Probably, he either just thinks we talked about what to say in case this came up or he already knew that there was something different about us anyway._

"Do what you'd like until dinner," Dumbledore told Tris quietly, on his way out after pointedly yet civilly offering to escort Umbridge off the premises. "I'll excuse you from what's left of your class. After all, I think you have earned a bit of a break."

Tris knew exactly what she wanted to do. Or at least, where she wanted to do it. As soon as it seemed safe enough to leave the room, she hurried to where she thought the doors to get outside might be.

_She'll be back, _Daja commented. _She said that she wanted to talk to all of us, and she only saw Sandry and Tris today. _

_Good, _Briar said darkly. _I'll get that book off of her next time. I wanna know what she was scribbling about us._

_Are you alright? _ Daja asked her. Tris realized then that she was shaking. Her power was roiling under her skin; built up after she'd worked so hard to keep it inside.

_Just leave me alone for a while, _Tris told them. _I need to unwind before I lose control. _

They understood what she meant immediately.

_Be careful of where you leave your body, _said Sandry, and their presence vanished from her mind.

Tris didn't get back in touch with them for the rest of the day. She had slinked back in at dinner, but still seemed jittery, rebuffing Sandry's attempts at talking to her. Umbridge must have upset her more than they had realized. Still, what she needed most now was a chance to cool herself off.

From across the room, Sandry watched her absently pick at her food until Harry, Ron, and Hermione showed up and plopped down across the table from her.

"So," Ron started, clearly trying to be friendly, "how was your first day?"

He looked very alarmed when Sandry just put her head down on the table and groaned.

…

Tris had walked around the outside of the castle until she turned a corner and found herself in an area where no one could see her. The Grounds were almost empty at this time of day, save for a couple standing by the lake that looked decidedly uninterested in anything but each other. She sat down cross-legged with her back to the wall and closed her eyes.

Tris had been expecting it to be a struggle to get herself calmed down enough to meditate, but she slipped into her power almost immediately. It startled her so much that she instantly jerked out of it.

No, it wasn't just that it was too easy. The pull that she was feeling into her magic was like being in the Hub, but it felt less familiar. Tris glanced around. Now that she knew what Wizard magic looked like, she could see the glimmers of it on everything here. It was brightest on the building itself, and on the people, but there were traces on even the rocks and grass. The only thing that she couldn't see it on was a mass of dark trees off in the distance. Tris could feel something coming from there, but it was a magic that she didn't know how to see yet.

Tris took a deep breath, shot down lightning tethers into the ground, did her best to clear her mind, and tried again.

Just like before, she sank deep into her power right away. This time she let herself go. The lake was tempting, but not what she needed at that moment. Instead, she let herself drift up. For a while she floated with the breezes around the grounds, letting the sensation of weightlessness pull away at the tension of the day until she felt it unravel completely. Relaxed, and starting to feel like exploring, she let herself go higher, higher.

Until she hit a wall.

It was enough of a shock to send her mind reeling back to her body. Her eyes snapped open. Cautiously, Tris prodded upwards again.

It was still there. It was invisible, and not as solid as she had thought, but _something_ was hovering high in the air above the castle. Something told her that the magic wasn't active, but it was waiting. For what, she didn't know, but as she felt along the barrier she started to understand what the Order had meant when they said that Hogwarts was protected.

She stayed like that for a while, moving through the swirling magic, testing its boundaries. With a jolt, she realized that it was getting difficult to pull herself away. Just like when she'd started to meditate, she could feel herself starting to get drawn in much to easily. This magic seemed so different to hers that there was nowhere to anchor herself. It was like she was a small current going the wrong way in a tide.

Tris didn't know how long it took for her to get out. Form the angle of the sun, classes had to be finished by then anyway. She drew back into herself, took a few deep breaths to settle down, and let the breezes flow back to her ears.

"-going to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

"-hope it stops raining for the match-"

"I still have no idea where I'm going in this place-"

"-Trewlawney said that Kevin is going to die-"

Tris raised her eyebrow at that last one. She was pretty sure that 'Trewlawney' was a teacher that had been mentioned on their first day at the castle. There may have been more to the story, but her warning to this 'Kevin' person sounded a lot like a threat. She wondered what year the students were in. The speaker's voice had already started breaking, but it was still hard to tell.

A thought suddenly popped up in her head. She could hear and smell things on the wind, so was it possible to see things too? Niko had never mentioned it, but if it could be done maybe he was waiting until she had a better grip on the wind to tell her about it. Tris wasn't even sure how she could learn something like that; she'd been hearing things for as long as she could remember without ever really finding out how it really worked.

Tris scoffed at herself. Sound and scent drifted naturally. She doubted that an object could do that.

But, there were a lot of things that she was still learning about her magic…

Halfheartedly, Tris tried twisting her vision to focus on whatever might be floating in the air, going slightly cross-eyed. Then she sighed, closed her eyes, and slumped back against the wall.

It's probably getting late, she thought. It should be time to eat soon, and we already had to rush all our meals today. She opened her eyes and started stood up to leave, finding it more difficult than she had expected. It was nice there, with the lake in sight and a good strong wind coming through.

There was a fly hovering to the side of her face. Absentmindedly, she tried to shoo it away, it disappeared, but then quickly returned. Frowning, she focused on it a bit more.

Not a fly, she realized. There should have been a buzzing from its wings, but all that she could hear were some of the voices from earlier. As she tried to get a good look at it, it flickered in and out. From what she could see, it didn't _have_ wings. What she had taken to be a fly was really just a tiny spot of black drifting around by itself. A spot that was getting bigger even while it vanished and wavered, growing wider and up and down until it was taking up a huge part of her vision.

For just an instant, she saw part of a boy that looked about a year older than her. Then he was gone.

Then she couldn't make out much of anything. There were so many colors streaming through the air that for an instant she thought it was a magical ambush. But an ambush should have actually _done _something to her. There was only the colors: little bits and pieces of things she couldn't see.

Tris squeezed her eyes shut. The colors went away, but it didn't stop.

_("Tris, I've told you. It's very like seeing the future. You drown in different images and events – how do you sort one from another? That's why future seers are as rare as lightning mages. Most go mad from sheer confusion. Does it really mean so much to you?")_

Tris lurched, struggling to get to her feet before collapsing back down. Her eyes opened and the colors came back. Was this what had happened to Daja?

_(The day's breezes slid before her sight: they were clear in her vision, though nothing else was. She saw the air's eddies and pools, the change in the currents where heat from the kitchen flowed through cooler air. Chime soared past her nose. Tris's eyes picked out the curling and parting of the air as the dragon cut through it, as water parted around a boat.)_

In any other circumstances, the flying piece of glass would have gotten a bit more attention from her. Tris felt barely sane enough at that point to make note of it.

_(A wisp of color shone on a current of air, like the glint in the depths of an opal. Another wisp. Another. The air streamed with flares in many hues, threads of fast-moving color. The wisps grew infrequent, then rare. At last they stopped appearing to Tris's eyes at all)_

It was the same, she realized, the chaos in front of her vision. The colors darting in and out as she tried to focus on them.

The colors in front of her eyes were starting to drift away too, but didn't disappear entirely. The pictures in her mind were in full force. They flickered now: an old castle covered in vines, wooden buildings with flames pouring out of them and reaching towards the night sky. A man in ragged clothing running away from her.

And then, the force that she struggled in vain to keep at the back of her mind took over

_(Tris made sure to stick as close to Nico as possible as they worked their way through the sea of faces. Even though this party was slightly more bearable than some others that she'd been too over the past few years – most of the guests were scholars, so she could at least count on some intelligent conversation – she would have bolted out the door an hour ago if she had had her way. Unfortunately, it was the only real chance for socialization throughout the conference that was taking several days, and as the prodigious student of Niklaren Goldeye Tris found herself unable to turn down the invitation. _

_That didn't mean that she had to like it. At this point, she was just trying to keep the politest (by her standards) smile on her face possible as she tuned out an introduction to some old classmate of Niko's. The last person she'd been introduced to had been just a bit to disbelieving about her magic for her tastes, and she'd rather not be paying attention if it was going to happen again. _

_The window was open. The breeze was drifting through the courtyard, where most of the children of the guests had been sent to get them out of the way. Tris supposed that they were supposed to be politely socializing with each other like their parents, but from what she could see several of them had ended up climbing trees. Most of the girls still on the ground looked properly disgusted, although there were a few that were clearly longing to try it themselves. Tris did her best to suppress a smirk. She could only imagine what some of the Noble guests would say if she could see what their children were up too._

_Most of them were starting to climb down, but one hesitated. Tris jolted slightly. It was Glaki. _

_Tris felt a bit concerned, but she couldn't help feeling a relieved at seeing her playing with the others. She'd been worried about bringing her to this sort of thing. _

_One of the boys that had already climbed down was calling something up to her. Glaki steeled herself, and then shifted down to a lower, slimmer branch. _

_There was a crack. _

_The little figure was falling along with the wood and the leaves. Tris was moving before she even thought about what she was doing. _

_Nico called after her, but Tris wasn't listening. She was barely able to think enough to grab the arm of Dedicate Sage – introduced to her just a few minutes before, from one of the Winding Circle temples – and drag her out the courtyard door with her. Sage started babbling something, but stopped as soon as they made it in sight of the children_

_Tris had chosen the right healer for the job. Dedicate Sage's training kicked in the instant that she saw the Glaki on the ground, and she broke free to run ahead of her. One of the older girls had had enough sense to break free of the gawking, milling herd of children to help Glaki sit up and was already yelling at the others to get help. She looked extremely relieved when Sage took over, silver healing magic pouring from her hands. Tris couldn't blame the girl; Glaki's normally golden face was pale, her eyes screwed shut with tears forcing their way out, and her arm hung limply at her side, bent in a way that made Tris want to throw up._

_She was too busy holding Glaki's other hand while the healer worked and trying to settle down her own racing heart to notice that the crowd around her wasn't made up of just children anymore._

_Most of the guests had followed them out, drawn by the spectacle of the infamous Trisana Chandler bolting out of a party while kidnapping one of the other guests. The parents in the crowd had pulled their children back, and the shock of seeing an injury was starting to wear off. _

_Niko stepped out of the whispering crowd and crouched down next to her_

"_Do you still have some of the medicines that Briar gave you?" he murmured._

_She nodded. _

"_Take Glaki back to our rooms to get some rest. I'll manage things here."_

_The gentleness in his tone, the short commands from a man that was normally so eloquent, made her tense up even more. Still, she did as she was told, and she found herself glad that Glaki was too drowsy from the healing to notice the stares. _

_Soon enough, Glaki wasn't so oblivious. Everyone knew exactly why Tris had been able to run out right when she'd been hurt. _

_They ended up leaving two days early.)_

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("_Please don't thunder inside. It's scary."_)

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_**Tbc**_

…

_**The university student side of me says that I should tell you that the direct quotes were taken from "Shatterglass" pages 172, 266, 267, and 312. The big flashback was based on an incident mentioned briefly in "Will of the Empress" All it said there was that Glaki fell from a tree and broke her arm, which resulted in people finding out about Tris's ability to scry the wind and reacting badly. I tried to build on it.**_

_**Sorry if this chapter turned out to be long and mostly tedious. I promise that the next full chapter will be lighter (and up with significantly greater speed).**_

_**Speaking of which….**_

_**THE MUCH ANTICIPATED IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS **_

_**(If you didn't peek ahead. If you did, shame on you. Go back and read the chapter. I spent a really long time on it.) **_

_**Over the next few days (and I'm going to keep my promise this time), I will be posting a very short interlude chapter featuring a character that has only made a split second actual appearance in this story so far, but was directly referenced in this chapter. Imagination bonus points to anyone that can guess who. I was originally going to post it as a part of this chapter, but realized that it stood better on its own.**_

_**Next, I have a question: a while ago, it occurred to me that most people would have entirely forgotten most of what is happening in this story, so I wrote a detailed recap (and I mean detailed) which contains some highlighted key happenings/clarifications. Does anyone want me to post it with the interlude?**_

_**I'm still busy with school, but am trying to get on a regular writing schedule now. That update gap was ridiculous. I actually have a sibling that's younger than my last update for this story, and he's already big enough to mostly pronounce my three-syllable name. -_-**_

_**(Proud big sister rant time: he's adorable. Him being able to say my name is a recent thing, and he still gets happy when he says it and I answer…)**_

**:D**

_**Sorry about that. Had to say it. **_

_**Also, I'm probably going to change my pen name soon. Not sure what it will be yet, but I'll mention it in one of my stories before I do so people with me on author alert have some explanation about why they're getting updates about an author they've never heard of.**_

_**Thank you to anyone that's stuck with this story. Sorry if there were typos. I read it through, really just want to get this chapter out of the way. I ran out of patience for thorough editing.**_


	13. Interlude: Glaki

_For those of you that might see this after checking in on this story after a while. Be aware that I posted a full chapter a few days ago. Go read that first if you just clicked the last chapter button._

_**NOTE: IF YOU WANT TO SKIP THE RECAP AND GO STRAIGHT TO THE INTERLUDE, DO CTRL F AND SEARCH "Glaki" (no quotes. Go to the second result. People that don't know how the F function works or just feel like being non-conformists are going to have to scroll down). Even if you don't feel you need the recap, I recommend you read it. I included some info on what's going on where my POV characters can't see. **_

_I mentioned at the end of the last chapter that I had a rather detailed recap that I could post for the people that had forgotten what was happening in the story during the hiatus. Be warned: it's longer than this actual chapter._

_Our story begins with mage children disappearing off the streets of Emelan. It seemed unimportant to people at first – mainly street rats – but it evolved into children from respectable homes, and even a girl that was living within the protection of the Winding Circle Temple went missing. Adult Briar, Daja, Tris, and Sandry decided to investigate. After careful searching, they caught a kidnapper in the act. They followed him and his young victim back to their lair. _

_Once there, they were horrified to find that the children were being kept locked up, with strange symbols on the floor of the room sucking away at their magic. The Circle captured the kidnappers and broke the spell only to have it turn on them. Tris's magic started getting drained at a pace that would have killed her if the others hadn't thrown their own magic in to keep her alive. The captured children that were still lingering in the building saw their saviours shrink down, and then vanish. _

_There are some details of the spell that will remain vague for the time being, but I will say that when it becomes fully active, it is designed to keep whatever it sends through alive. There wasn't enough fuel to get the circle through as they were, so they were basically diminished, arriving in England as child forms of themselves. What they had as adults is all still there, but locked away. Memories try to force their way out every now and then. _

_After the law enforcement had cleared and from the scene and Nico, Rosethorn, Lark, and Frostpine were left with the rews and remnants of their students, __**someone**__ came to check on things_

_You might see him later…. Just saying. _

_After the Circle appeared in the living room of Grimmauld place (not sure if this will actually make it into the story, so I'll say it here. The spell basically fixes the exit points around powerful points of magic. Grimmauld Place has enough protection spells to qualify. They ended up there and not somewhere less friendly that also had magic really out of sheer dumb luck. How they got through those protection spells is an issue that is definitely going to make it into the story, so I'll leave that for now) Dumbledore and the Order decided that it was best that the Mages stay with them. The four of them had powers that they did not understand (and still don't understand, really), and the Wizarding world in England is in a situation where everyone involved would be looking for a way to tip the balance in their favour. The Order is not planning to try to get the Circle to fight on their side. Some considered it, but if Molly Weasley was fighting tooth and nail against having Harry sit in on the Order meetings when he was 15 and already involved, she at least would certainly have not been passive about sending 12 year olds to fight Death Eaters when they had no idea of what they were getting into. However, the Order knew that Voldemort would definitely be interested, and that the Ministry would either try to use their Magic, lock them up somewhere to study them or try to keep the rising chaos as low as possible, or use them as a distraction to get the general population away from concerns about Voldemort. At that stage, the fewer people that knew, the better. _

_But then, there was the Diagon Alley incident. Lupin and Kingsley offered to take them out with them since they had been cooped in the most depressing house in England for weeks, and Briar and Tris took them up on their offer. During that time, Lupin used some of his meager savings to get Tris a toy dog that looked like Little Bear when he saw her gazing at it. She had mixed feelings: Tris was so focused on it because her subconscious mind wanted to get it for Glaki, but the rest of her didn't remember that Glaki existed. Later on when Sandry found out, she made Lupin some new clothes as a thank-you-for-being-nice-to-my-crotchety-friend present. Those last couple details probably seem inane, but I plan to touch back on them. While they were in the alley, The Order wasn't expecting much trouble, since no one else had seen them and they would be in a public place. The Death Eaters, for reasons that it is still too early in the story to say but you might be able to start piecing together with clues from the earlier chapters, were much more well-informed than anyone was expecting. _

_However, here is where the Death Eaters made their mistake. They were initially planning to take Briar and Tris quietly, but Kingsley and Lupin were on their guard, and being very careful to keep close to the children and avoid convenient dark alleys. So the Death Eaters started to get frustrated after a while and decided to make a direct attack, wearing their masks to hide their identities. They were a bit overconfident about Voldemort's return to power._

_Briar and Tris were rescued, but this sort of threw a wrench in everyone's plans. After seeing Death Eaters in Diagon Alley, the general public became more skeptical about the Ministries claims that Harry and Dumbledore were simply insane. There was also the matter of witnesses reporting of the two kids that were not only the target of the attack, but had apparently been kidnapped. Whether or not they believed that there were real Death Eaters about, the kidnapping of two children was enough to get the interest of concerned citizens; not to mention the rumor mill. The Death Eaters lost some of their members when they were caught by the Ministry, and could no longer work as covertly as they had before. And now, the existence of the circle was definitely not a secret to Voldemort, and the Ministry wanted to find the children to put an end to the rumors one way or another. _

_Dumbledore decided to use the notion that the best place to hide is in plain sight. He went to the Ministry and gave a new version of the story. Instead of appearing in the Black family's living room, the Circle arrived disoriented, confused, and frightened in Diagon Alley, and were lying low there for a few days until the strange people that they knew nothing about swooped in and took Daja and Sandry somewhere that people didn't notice, and Briar and Tris escaped only to be caught later in the middle of the street. He probably didn't need to mention that there were four kids, since only two had been seen, but he knew that they would want to stay together. The four of them escaped on their own with their powers (explaining the Ministry showing up to find the Death Eaters tied up in Briar's vines), and supposedly wandered around until they were picked up by Dumbledore. Of course, the proper thing for Dumbledore to do would be to have taken them into the Ministry's protective custody, but the children were so run down, frightened, and untrusting by that point that he decided to get them cared for and calmed down before bringing them there, which would explain the delay. There were of course holes in the story, but kids that had been through trauma could not be expected to remember everything. _

_After drawing the attention of enough people to the poor, scared children, Dumbledore ensured that the Ministry could not do anything secretly with them, and since Dumbledore had come directly to them they could not claim that he was trying to hide the Circle to use whatever powers they had for his own purposes. Dumbledore suggested that the kids be taken into Hogwarts for the time being, because having other children around might help the Circle adjust, and who was their better able to judge the magical capabilities of a child than teachers? For the students of Hogwarts, it would have all the benefits of a foreign exchange program, except no one really knew where they were being exchanged from, and no one got exchanged back. _

_The Ministry leaders couldn't find a good excuse to say no at the time, but they didn't give up looking for one. Because of the increased doubt of the people into their honesty, they could not take the kind of control over the school that they did in Order of the Phoenix. They lost enough of the people's faith in the incident and their reluctance to properly address it that they could no longer manage to instate Umbridge as Hogwarts inspector like they had planned. However, Umbridge made the suggestion that someone from the Ministry (her, of course) be allowed to do a kind of social worker visits to kind of check up on the children. She showed up sooner than anyone was expecting. For those of you that were waiting for Sandry to verbally decimate Umbridge and were disappointed with the last chapter…you'll have to wait. Right now, Umbridge is looking for any excuse to take them away, so they have to be very cautious. I think that you all will appreciate the person that I do intend to ultimately sic on her though ;-)_

_At Hogwarts, the Circle all got sorted into different Houses. Not just for dramatic purposes (although that's an added bonus): they all just belong in different houses. Seriously. Think about it. Then Daja found a locket and remembered Rizu This dredged up a plethora of feelings that are too adult for her at the moment, revelations about her sexuality that she wasn't meant to deal with for quite some time, and some interesting questions about their relationship to the Empress of Namorn and why she remembers being significantly bigger. The four of them aren't quite sure what to make of it at the moment._

_Meanwhile, in Emelan…_

…

**Glaki**

**Discipline Cottage, Winding Circle Temple**

Glaki was roused out of her nightmare by a warm weight resting on her stomach and a low whimpering sound. Her eyes fluttered open. After a few moments of disorientation she was able to make out in the darkness the white mound of fur that was Little Bear, standing next to the bed with his head lowered to rest on her body. Chime perched on her headboard. Her eyes glinted in the faint moonlight. Glaki must have been making noises in her sleep, because they were both gazing at her in what looked like concern.

Glaki clambered out of bed and wrapped her arms around Bear's neck. The dog whimpered again, clearly worried by her odd behavior. Wanting to help but not really knowing what she needed to be protected from, he laid down and let the girl cuddle up against him on the floor. Chime landed on her shoulders, nuzzling her neck while giving the ringing croon she had been named for.

Tris had been in a lot of Glaki's dreams since she had disappeared. In some, she came home. In others, Glaki would search and search and never find her. Sometimes, terrible things happened. In tonight's dream, Tris had been gasping for breath with a yellow veil tightening around her neck while bruises spread across the visible patches of her throat. Two other women – both with black hair, glittering costumes, and veils around their own necks – had been watching her, looking silent, pale, and sad.

Glaki shivered and made the lamp on the table light with her magic. She wasn't supposed to use it for small things, but she didn't want to move from where she was buried in Bear's fur. Chime shifted until she was lying on top of Bear with her head in Glaki's curls and fell silent.

In the weeks since Tris and her brother and sisters had disappeared, the mages at Winding Circle had hardly learned anything new. At least, not that Glaki had heard of. She'd wanted to ask Nico, but the only time that he'd stopped by since the night he came to tell Rosethorn, Lark, and Frostpine what had happened was to talk to Jenna, and he'd left right after. Jenna didn't really know what had happened either, and she had been there to see it.

After everything that had happened, Lark and Rosethorn had not been expecting Discipline's latest addition. Jenna was an academic mage, and she had been supposed to be sent to the Cottage just before she had disappeared from the temple with the other children that had gone missing from the city. After they'd been found, the Temple mages had assumed that her family would take her back, but the only family that she'd had left was a widowed grandfather that didn't seem to know what to do with her, and so she had been sent back. Jenna was a year older than Glaki, but she didn't talk much since she had come to stay with them. She especially didn't like talking about why it had taken her so long to get there.

As much as Glaki wanted to know about what she'd seen when they disappeared, Lark and Rosethorn had told her not to ask.

She was thirsty, and she hadn't brought up the water pitcher when she went to bed. Glaki slept in Tris's old room in the attic, and she stayed as quiet as she could on as she climbed down the ladder. It sounded like Jenna was sleeping peacefully for once, and she didn't want to wake her.

There was still a soft glow and soft murmurs coming from down the hallway. Lark and Rosethorn hadn't gone to bed yet. They'd been staying up late a lot lately. She wasn't sure if she'd get in trouble for being out of bed, but Glaki felt herself start to relax anyway. Lark was as good with nightmares as Bear.

She stopped when she heard the knock on the door.

The voices stopped. Someone got up. Glaki peered around the corner to see part of Lark opening the door.

Niko stood there. He looked tired. His clothes were rumpled and his hair was coming out of its tie, but his black eyes seemed to be shining like Chimes. It was enough to make Lark and Rosethorn go very still, and Glaki back up in the hallway.

She didn't know what this was, but she knew better than to interrupt.

"We think we've had a breakthrough on the runes," Niko said in a way that she'd never heard him talk before. All at once.

Glaki froze. From the sound of things, Lark and Rosethorn started moving again.

"You know what happened to them?" she heard Lark say. Glaki had never heard _her_ talk like that before either. She sounded breathless, and tense, like she was scared to hear it, but desperately needed to.

"Not precisely, but we're getting a general idea."

"A general idea is more than we've had in months. If you're not going to come out with it now, I'm marching over to find out myself."

"We think that the runes have two main purposes," Niko explained. "The first is to pull in and store power."

"We guessed that already." Rosethorn sounded even more impatient. "They took the children to get magic from them."

"But we didn't know what it was storing magic to do."

This time, Rosethorn didn't interrupt

"It's a transportation spell," Niko said, and Glaki heard both women take in sharp breaths.

"So when the children said they disappeared…"

"At first, we were worried that the spell might have consumed them when it was interrupted, but now, it looks like they might have been sent somewhere."

"So…they're alive?"

Quiet.

"We can't say for sure yet. It doesn't look like the magic killed them, but we still have no idea where they ended up."

"They're alright," Rosethorn said fiercely. "If they survived the spell, they're fine as long as they're together."

There were some fumbling noises.

"I'm going to tell Frostpine," Lark's voice was more excited than Glaki had ever heard it. "He's been as desperate for news as we have."

The front door opened. Two sets of footsteps and voices disappeared along with it when it closed.

Niko didn't leave right away.

"It's late. You should really try to go back to sleep," He said. Glaki ducked farther out of sight. Then there was the sound of the door opening and closing again as he followed the two women outside.

Thirst forgotten, Glaki ran to wake up Evvy.

_**Tbc**_

…

_**To my reviewers that I was unable to PM before because either PMs were blocked or there was no account to PM:**_

_**20 IMAGINATION BONUS POINTS FOR THE ANONYMOUS GUEST! Also thanks, and will do :)**_

_**silver cat 777: Thank you for your dedication and the compliment :D. I don't know if you would have read the recap then, but it does have some background info if your interested**_

_**bookchomper101: HI YOUR EXCITEMENT MAKES ME FEEL EXCITED TOO :D! I'll make sure to get that interview in. Briar's "woman issue": I'm going to limit the number of R rated flashbacks that I give the 11/12 year olds (poor Daja. She's got the heartbreak to somewhat distract her though), but I was planning on referencing his flirtatious ways while he was still in kid form.**_


	14. Chapter 14

**Some of you may have noticed that my username changed. If not, make note of it so you are not confused the next time you get a PM responding to a review (and thank you, by the way, to everyone that I couldn't respond to that way) or an author alert from me. **

**So, I know that the logical content of this chapter would be the Circle adjusting to Hogwarts/ dealing with the aftermath of Umbridge's visit/ looking at what has changed so far from the original book. But then my muse was like "NO. Harry/Circle bonding time" and I couldn't talk it out of that. So, here's whatever this is. The other stuff will be next update. On the plus side, things were getting a bit intense and now we get a bit of a break.**

…

Squinting made things a little easier. With her eyes half closed, Tris could almost make out what she was fairly sure was a tree before the focus was lost again. Aside from that it was all still just a mess of greens and browns and blacks and flecks of everything else.

The swirling colors became too much, and her eyes watered and burned…

She slammed the window shut.

It had been three days since the first glimmers that she had seen on the wind. Three days going to classes where everyone stared at her and nothing anyone said about magic made any sense. Three days of trying to act like everything was fine and being a foreigner and avoiding the probing of her friends. Three days of stilling the breezes around her body to keep from being overwhelmed as much as she could and hating every second of it.

They were still there.

Tris paced around the dorm room, which was mercifully empty. She knew it was ridiculous to keep this to herself. Daja, Briar, and Sandry had put up with far stranger from her than the ability to see things floating around on the air. They had put up with her hearing things, making _them _hear things. They had seen sparks crawling out of her hair and furniture knocked over by wind.

Even worse, she could see that Daja was holding herself together well enough that no one else had even noticed anything was wrong, but she couldn't hide how pensive she still was from their bond. Knowing that Tris had seen something too might help her, and it might help the four of them work out what was happening. Instead, the others were starting to worry even more because of her withdrawal.

It didn't make sense, but every time the memories of the looks on the faces in the crowd came back…

She felt stuck.

So when Briar called her, she was happy for the distraction.

Even if she was annoyed about the location.

…

Harry knocked.

No answer. Not that he'd expected any.

He walked over to the window and peered through the curtains. Hagrid's cabin was as empty as it had been every other time he had come to look.

Harry had spent the morning at the Quiddich pitch. That one magnificent flight from the Dursley's to Grimmauld Place was not quite enough to work out all of the tension he'd been building since the start of summer. He'd been itching to spend a morning on his broom since he'd gotten back.

Being back was strange. Most people were unsure of what to make of him. He was getting twice as many stares as usual. The school seemed to be divided between those that still thought he was a nutter (he had noticed Seamus giving him strange looks), those that were starting to believe after the attack in Diagon Alley, and those that thought the school's new 'exchange students' were more interesting than him either way.

Harry sighed and tried to push his thoughts back. He was going to have to get on the broom again at this rate. Harry didn't know where Hagrid was, but since he probably wasn't going to be back that day he might as well go put his broom away before lunch.

He had just turned around and started walking back to the school when he spotted something far off in the distance. Harry squinted. The little spot of red hair and black robes slogging its way across the grounds was probably a first or second year – he knew at least that it wasn't anyone from fifth. Harry almost brushed it off, but then paused. There was something familiar about those short curls and that slightly-round frame.

It was Tris.

Harry debated calling out to her. He hadn't seen much of Grimmauld Place's unexpected guests in the last few days. They still needed to pretend that they didn't know each other. He'd spotted Sandry in the common room a few times with other first years though – she seemed to be good at making friends. He hadn't gotten more of glimpses of the other three at meals and in the halls since the Sorting.

Where was she going, anyway? It was Saturday, so she wouldn't have any classes to get to. Probably just exploring then. But what was she headed too? She wasn't even close to the cabin, and the greenhouses and Quidditch Pitch were the other way. The only thing over there was…

…The Forbidden forest.

Sure enough, Harry watched as Tris reached the treeline, took a quick look around (missing him), and disappeared inside.

Harry looked around for himself, almost hoping that there had been some other witness besides him. What should he do? Tell someone? Run in after her? Pretend he hadn't seen anything.

He didn't want to get her in trouble, but he also knew from experience that the forest wasn't a good place to go without a great reason.

Whatever she was doing in there, he decided, it probably wasn't any of his business. Tris and her friends were probably feeling a bit trapped already; she probably wouldn't appreciate him hovering over her. Besides, after everything he'd gotten up to at that age, he hardly had the right to tell _her_ what to do.

And, sure, he'd run into Voldemort in the forest, and dragons, but those weren't really _normal _to find in there. Even though there were Death Eaters interested in Tris and her friends, he doubted they would be lurking on the grounds. All Tris would have to worry about were those massive bloody spiders of Hagrids, and getting run over by the rogue car, and the chance that she might run into a patch of Devil's Snare and not be able to get rid of it like Hermione did, and –

Harry had already grabbed his broomstick and started moving.

He kicked off into the air near where she had gone in. Tris had a good head start on him, and flying overhead would let him catch up. He scanned the trees below him, trying to find her through the branches.

It didn't take long. Tris was far from the stealthiest target he'd ever tracked. She grumbled mutinously to herself with words to faint for him to hear while plodding straight through the mud and tree roots (although he did notice her carefully step around small plants a couple times).

It was probably a good time to land and talk to her, but he still wasn't sure exactly what he should say.

Harry didn't know why he was following her like this. He'd wanted to get her away from the forest, not stalk her into it. But he couldn't help being curious. Tris definitely wasn't lost. Even when she had to stumble over what was on the ground, she kept going straight ahead.

He would just keep an eye on her, then. Let her do what she needed to, but stay close by in case she ran into trouble. She probably would. She looked like she was heading in deep.

After another ten minutes or so of crawling painfully slowly along through the air and staring down below, Tris ducked into an area with too many branches for Harry to see through and didn't pass through the other side. He hesitated for a while before he circled back and dropped down.

The bushes were thick where he landed. He crept around them quietly as he could until he found a gap big enough to see through.

Tris was standing in a relatively open patch off to the side of the path, staring down at something on the ground. It wasn't until he heard voices that he realized she wasn't alone.

Harry craned around further until he could spot the boy crouched down on the forest floor. Briar.

Was this a meeting they'd planned this meeting out ahead of time?

Harry felt even more unsure now if he should reveal himself. He hadn't needed to interact with Briar since he'd been put into Slytherin. Would that make talking to him somehow different? Briar had seemed alright at Grimmauld Place, but he could hardly say the same about any other Slytherin he knew. Then he remembered Sandry's rage at Ron when she'd overheard him, and quickly decided not to judge.

Tris sat down on a log near Briar and started picking at the ground with him.

Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even talked to either of them since Grimmauld Place, and then he hadn't even known they were coming to the school. He stayed where he was for a while, wondering if he should show himself and watching them work in silence.

Harry shifted, trying to take the weight off of his right leg. Something snapped under his foot. Briar's back went rigid.

Something slammed into him from behind and sent him sprawling face-first into the ground. Harry scrambled to get to his wand, but whatever it was wrapping hard ties around his wrists, ankles, neck and waist. He yelled and struggled in vain as he felt himself hauled up,

Before he could even work out what had happened, a voice cut through his struggles.

"What are _you _doing here?"

The bush he'd been looking through was parted. Briar and Tris were now starting back at him. Tris's hands arms were crossed in front of her as she waited for an answer.

Harry twisted his head around as much as he could. The bonds holding him were brown and green and rough, and his eyes ran up them from where they held one of his hands to back to where they were still connected to the tree behind him.

"Looking for you," he managed to get out eventually. His voice was more strangled-sounding than he would have liked it to be.

The branches holding him slowly loosened. Perhaps he was supposed to pull himself out carefully, but he still ended up dropping like a stone to the forest floor.

Harry got back up with as much grace as he could muster. He didn't manage to muster a lot.

"We should go," he said. It was all he could come up with to say.

Tris dismissively waved one hand towards Briar. Briar shrugged. "I got what I need."

He walked back to where then had been crouched down and came back with their bags, dropping one over Tris's shoulder and the other on his own. Tris staggered a bit under the weight before regaining her balance, but didn't break eye contact with Harry.

"Were you following me?"

Harry briefly considered lying before realizing that it wouldn't work. "Yes."

Tris stayed rigid long enough for Harry to start getting nervous. With one final glare, she turned and stormed off down the path. Briar stared after her for a moment.

"Show me the trick for gettin' past her some time," he muttered to Harry before following.

Not sure what else to do, and starting to regret coming down from the air, Harry grabbed his broomstick from where he'd dropped it and went after them.

"So," Briar called back over his shoulder, "why are you following us again?"

Harry briefly contemplated trying to explain his worry for Tris. He had a feeling it wouldn't be received well.

"You're not supposed to be in the forest."

"Why not? Going to rat on us?"

"No! And it's not safe."

"You're in the forest," Briar pointed out.

"That's different."

"How's it different?"

"Because I'm older!" he snapped, then immediately tried to backtrack. From what he could see of her face in profile, Tris looked downright mutinous. "No, wait – let me try that again. I mean – I've been in here before, so –"

Unfortunately, Tris chose that moment to speak up. "So if we left and then came back in it would be fine?"

"No! I meant that I know more about…"

That was when he noticed the wicked grins creeping their way onto the kids' faces. He shut up.

For a while, they kept going in silence. Harry eventually took the lead after they got to a part of the path that he recognized. He could feel Tris and Briar watching him, but felt a bit too nervous to try to look back.

Still, he couldn't stop listening to their footsteps behind him, making sure that they weren't being dragged off somewhere or running away. He had never felt so anxious in the forest before. Every rustle, every crack in the trees made him jump. What should he do if something jumped out at them?

"Are there wild horses in the forest?" Tris asked suddenly.

Harry twisted his head around to see her. Tris had paused on the path, staring straight ahead. Briar had stopped too. He watched her, eyes alert.

"Don't think so," Harry said, although there was probably a lot in the forest that he didn't know about. "Unicorns, but I don't think they'd come out now. Why?"

Tris's eyes started crossing and she squeezed them shut. "I smell horses."

"Oh," he said blankly. Then he heard the distant clattering from somewhere down the path, and the realization hit.

Without another word, he grabbed them both by the arms and yanked them off the path and into the bushes. They were surprised enough to let him.

He managed to get the three of them mostly tucked out of sight, forcing them in quickly enough that Tris's glasses were almost knocked off and even Briar couldn't avoid a scratch on his arm from a twig jutting out.

"What do you think you–"

"Let–"

He shushed them, just in time for the clattering to get louder.

Harry didn't recognize the three centaurs that slowed down near their hiding spot: a female with red-gold fur and two darker males. He could hear them muttering to each other in words he couldn't understand as they came to a stop, a little further down the path from them.

Briar and Tris thankfully stayed quiet, but their eyes were huge as they stared through the gaps in the leaves.

Harry didn't know how they hadn't been caught already. He was painfully aware of the handle of his broom poking through the leaves but worried about the sounds he would make if he tried to pull it back in.

Suddenly, it wasn't sticking out anymore.

His Firebolt didn't move, he realized. Their cover did. The branches of the bush were stretching, moving as if in caught in a breeze to reach over it. But there was no breeze. The air around them seemed almost unnaturally still, seeming to hold their breaths suspended in the air even as the leaves overhead waved lively.

Finally, the centaurs moved on down the path in the direction Harry, Tris, and Briar had come from, and the tension in the air dissipated. The two kids stayed where they were, stunned.

"They –" Briar tried eventually, then failed. He gestured vaguely around his waist.

"Centaurs," Harry told them. "Half human, half horse. Some are alright, but there are a lot that don't like people much. I think they usually leave kids alone though. I ran into some when I was about your age."

Unfortunately, Tris had recovered enough to pay attention. "So you _were _in here when you were our age."

Harry groaned as he made his way to his feet, and then reached down to help Tris and Briar up. They both latched onto a hand. Tris even grabbed the Firebolt on her way up and passed it to him once she was on her feet.

"Why are you two out here, anyway?" he finally asked. It felt safe enough now.

"Because _he-_" she jerked her head towards Briar, "ended up taking too much to fit in his bag, Sandry was busy, and Daja was bright enough to just say no."

"Taking _what?_" Harry asked. It felt like they were already on too-thin ice with the centaurs by just _being_ here already to risk having Briar steal something from the forest.

The two kids looked at each other. Then Briar opened up the bag that he had slung over his shoulder.

At first, it just looked like he had just been grabbing as many leaves and flowers as he could manage and stuffing them in his bag. After another moment it still looked like that, but he realized that just how many different plants were included in the mostly-green jumble. There were even a few that he recognized from seeing their shrivelled-up versions in potions. He spotted ragwort, willow bark, and some juniper leaves and berries before the bag was closed.

"I grew back what I picked," Briar informed him. "Even cleared up a big patch of rot too."

It wasn't a justification that Harry could imagine any of the other Slytherin's that he'd met making. Then again, he couldn't really imagine Draco Malfoy going into the forest to get a bag of leaves either.

"What do you do with that stuff?" he asked.

Briar shrugged. "Make stuff out of what you get from them. Medicine, mostly. It's what green mages do."

"You don't need to make them yourself you know". Harry told him. You can get potions from the hospital wing if something happens."

Tris put her hands on her hips and scowled. "I made one of your wizard potions yesterday. It turned colours that made no sense with what was going in it and apparently if I drank it I would start forgetting things. If it's all the same to you, I'll stick to what Briar makes."

Harry could see her point.

"Are you sure you didn't pick anything dangerous?" He asked Briar.

Briar shrugged. "Any plant can be dangerous if you use it right."

_That _sounded a bit more like the Slytherins that Harry was used to. Smarter than Crabbe and Goyle, but still.

Tris elbowed him when she spotted the look on Harry's face. "He meant 'wrong'".

"We left what I didn't know and what wiggled on its own alone." Briar went on, ignoring the interruption.

They walked in silence again for a minute or so. Harry hoped they were heading in the right direction. He wondered if he could get all three of them on his broom if they needed to.

"So I get that the horse-people don't like kids from the school coming in," Briar spoke up, "but what else makes this place so 'forbidden' anyway?"

Seeing a chance to save face a little, Harry started listing off as many reasons to stay out of the forest that he could think of.

"-and then there's these giant spiders as big as the centaurs-"

"Giant _spiders?!_" Tris squeaked, after being totally unfazed by his talking about his run-ins Voldemort and Dementors. She looked around frantically at the surrounding trees and quickly stepped closer to Briar, who rolled his eyes and muttered, "Like a giant spider could take you on". She glared at Harry when she noticed his grin.

"Sorry," Harry said. "It's just…if that's your response, you should try talking to Ron sometime."

"If the forest is so bad, why are you here?" Briar asked.

Harry's face went a bit red. His reason for coming felt a little ridiculous now. He knew them well enough to realize that they wouldn't like his explanation if it sounded like he was babying them. And really, Harry would have just gotten them caught by the centaurs if they hadn't been able to think so quickly.

Still, they were probably too smart to buy 'just going for a walk' as an excuse.

Muttering, Harry finally got out, "I saw Tris going in here and got worried she wouldn't know what she was walking into."

No response.

Tris and Briar looked at each other. Something unspoken passed between them before Tris turned back to face Harry straight on.

"So," she mused aloud, "you followed me into the forest knowing that you would be put in danger and possibly get in trouble while hiding the whole time because you thought I probably wouldn't want you watching me, to give me a warning about something that I probably already knew, all because you were worried that we would run into something that our power couldn't deal with?"

Now Harry felt even more stupid. Of course the two of them could handle themselves. Even though he had never seen them use much of their magic himself, he knew that they had taken out a nest of Death Eaters with no trouble.

He couldn't quite read the look in their eyes.

"What?" Harry couldn't help sounding a bit defensive.

"Sorry," Tris said. "It's just…if that's your response, you should try talking to Sandry sometime."

Briar snorted out a laugh as the two of them walked ahead. Something about their tone and the way that they had looked at him left Harry unsure if he was being mocked or if he had just been given a huge compliment.

He thought it might be a bit of both.

…

It wasn't until he was in bed that night that Harry started wondering about how Tris had known to go to the Forbidden Forest right when Briar ended up with too much to carry.

**Probably not what you were expecting, but I hope you enjoyed anyway. It's a bit weird switching who tries to be a grown-up to who between writing both my stories, but fun. I think the Circle is going to be better at it, eventually. Although to be fair, I think Tris and Briar at 12ish are harder to baby than Harry at 6. **

**Did you know there are no lady centaurs in any Harry Potter source? I'm not sure they exist, but if there aren't any I don't want to think about how a horse-human hybrid might reproduce. That would be an awkwardly shaped foetus though, so maybe I'll just picture them growing on trees. **

**(My apologies for the above musings. Please review.)**

**-Veery**


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